Backup
by CalaveraCandiedSkull
Summary: When Reyna prayed to her mom and asked for backup, this wasn't exactly what she had in mind. - Leyna, for the ship week.
1. Chapter 1

**Is it still Leyna week I have no idea**

**This is my (late) entry for Leyna Week, I might continue it, might not. Let me know what you think!**

**(also, I would like to point out that I have not read The Demigod Files, and I know I have used a character that appears in TDF, so if there's a huge difference in them please don't come to my house with torches and coffin measures)**

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**Backup**

* * *

In all honesty, Reyna couldn't have told you how it happened. One second she was fighting like the praetor she was, the next, chained to a wall in some dank, musty dungeon.

She didn't even know houses in Colorado could have dungeons, even those old Victorian homes that were barely standing. She supposed that was her first mistake; not enough research into her quest. Her second mistake was easy to identify – she had not been expecting the Cyclops.

Again, Reyna cursed her own stupidity. The black cuffs around her wrists seemed to be getting tighter the more she struggled. At least they were in front of her, so she could see her hands. But the particularly annoying bit was that her back was to the wall. The chains attaching her wrists to the wall were long, but just long enough that if she took a few steps forward, her bound wrists dug into her stomach and prevented her from going any further.

If matters could possibly be made any worse, the Cyclops had taken her gladius when he knocked her out, and Scipio was far out of earshot. When she landed down on the green outside _Miss Mia Lamb's Foster Home, _Reyna had told the pegasus to fly off somewhere and wait for her call. Reyna hadn't been expecting this quest to take more than twenty minutes. You would have thought years of questing would teach Reyna that nothing ever went as planned, but apparently her pride had gotten the better of her this time.

Which was how Reyna, Praetor of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata of New Rome, ended up weaponless and chained in a dungeon somewhere in Colorado.

Brilliant.

Luckily, annoyance was winning out over pain, or else she'd really be feeling the nasty bump the Cyclops had left on her head. As it was, it was merely a dull ache in the back of her mind reminding her of her own ineptitude. Reyna frowned as a strand of hair fell in front of her eyes, tickling her nose. Angrily, she blew at it. But it only fluttered a little, settling back into place.

Reyna began grinding her teeth. She could really use something like backup right now. What would Jason do? He had certainly always been more open to relying on backup than she had. And after the whole end-of-the-world fiasco a few months ago, he'd been embracing the Greek ways even more. Yes, Reyna knew exactly what Jason would do in a situation like this.

Reyna really didn't like doing this, but her predicament didn't really offer up a better option. It was either this, or wait around for the Cyclops to come back – or worse, the one the Cyclops answered to.

So Reyna closed her eyes and prayed.

_Hello, Mother_, she thought, very stiffly. _I know this isn't very Roman of me. But I have never asked you for anything, and as of right now, I would greatly appreciate some backup._

She listened for several seconds. Nothing. Reyna sighed, shoulders slumping. Well, it looked like she was going to have to figure this one out on her own.

Then she heard some vague scrabbling behind the wall to her right, and jerked her head up. She heard a vaguely familiar voice muttering a few choice words, and then with a sudden click and a groan the wall swung inwards. Reyna realized that what she had thought was a patch of discoloured bricks was actually a door.

She couldn't see much of what was outside the door, other than shadows. But she could see the person that came stumbling into the dungeon with a whoop.

"Boo-yah! No locked door stands a chance against the mighty Valdez! Stand down, beasts – oh, it's a dungeon." Then his eyes made contact with Reyna's, and hers widened in recognition.

"_You!" _

Her yell echoed across the brick walls, and probably was heard all through the house, but Reyna didn't care. She was blazing with fury, eyes locked onto the boy who had let out a rather girlish shriek. "You're the one who destroyed my city!"

"Hey, hey!" Leo Valdez managed to look affronted at the same time as frightened. "We've been through this! Eidolons! Possessed! Not my intention!" The he seemed to regain some courage, and lowered his voice to a hiss. "And keep it down! You wanna wake Ugly up there?"

Reyna fell silent, but continued to seethe. Leo inched towards her, hands up in surrender. "What are you doing here?" He asked finally.

"I might ask you the same question," Reyna shot coldly. "This is my quest."

"Yeah?" His eyes surveyed the shackles and chains, and Reyna could feel her face going red. "Well, great job so far."

"I had it under control."

"I'm sure. Don't you have any backup?"

"I am a praetor of New Rome."

"Right, taking that as a no."

"Do you?" Reyna could feel a tic developing in her eyelid. Her annoyance levels were rising through the roof, and Reyna had been dealing for Octavian for years.

"Nope," Leo grinned. "Well, I had Jeeves, but he was sacrificed as a distraction."

"You _sacrificed_ someone?"

"No, I sacrificed a footstool." His face gave a faraway look. "I always liked that footstool. People said a footstool butler would be useless, but Jeeves sure proved them wrong..."

As he continued to ramble about brave footstool butlers, Reyna could almost hear Bellona's voice in her head. _You wanted backup? You got it, sweetheart._

"Thanks, Mother," Reyna grumbled. Leo stopped his ranting.

"What?"

"Nothing." Reyna gestured to the shackles around her wrist. "So? Can you help me out?"

Leo gave a derisive snort. "Why? So you can try and kill me?"

"I have no weapons, Valdez, otherwise I wouldn't be in this predicament in the first place."

"I don't know." His eyes gave a mischievous twinkle. "Your cheekbones could be classified as lethal weapons-"

Reyna stomped on his foot. Leo yelped, and quickly covered his mouth with his hands. He glared, but made no further noise lest the monsters upstairs hear and come running.

Finally, he stopped glaring and studied the black shackles. "What metal is that?" He asked, although Reyna got the feeling he was more thinking aloud than looking for an answer. "Stygian iron? It looks like it. They look weird, though..." Tentatively, he pulled a file from his tool belt, and poked the shackles.

Instantly the metal tightened around Reyna's wrists, and they both jumped. "Holy!" Leo yelled, not even bothering to be quiet. "What the-"

"So they were getting tighter!" Reyna could feel the cold iron pressing into her skin now. It was really starting to hurt.

Leo leaned down, studying them closely. "It seems like any kind of resistance tightens them a notch." He dropped the file back into the belt, and began rummaging around. "Okay," he said, tongue between his teeth. "I need the most delicate lock pick you can give me."

Reyna started to answer that she didn't have a lock pick, wouldn't she have mentioned that first, but before she could speak Leo's hands reappeared holding a small bronze lock pick. Her mouth closed abruptly, and he grinned in triumph. "Did..." Reyna wasn't sure how to voice her thoughts. "Did you just ask your tool belt for that?"

"Yep." Leo began working very slowly and carefully on the handcuffs. "It's magic."

Reyna didn't know how to reply to that, so she fell silent. Leo didn't offer up any conversation either, but he was busy gently working the lock.

It wasn't uncommon anymore for Greek and Roman demigods to encounter each other on quests, or simple missions. Now that both camps knew about each other, the Mist cloaking them from the other's presence was gone. And for the most part, it wasn't bad. There were a few bad cases, as always, but usually the campers could put aside their various differences and work together for a common cause.

But Reyna hadn't encountered any Greeks until now. It was a jarring sensation, working alongside someone in an orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. She'd been fighting them just a few short months ago.

Leo must have been thinking something along the same lines, because he seemed unfocused. Finally he spoke. "So. Just you on this?"

"Yes." Reyna shifted slightly. "It showed up on our radar – er, we heard rumours," she amended as he perked up at the word 'radar.' "So I decided to check it out. I thought it wouldn't be a very big deal."

"Yeah, that's what Chiron thought, too." Leo resumed his work. "He said something about kids disappearing in a foster home," his fingers tensed. "And I-"

Reyna didn't get to hear what he was going to say, because at that moment an unmistakeably Cyclops roar sounded from outside the dungeon, and both Leo and Reyna jumped a mile. Unfortunately, that made the pick in Leo's hands slip, and the shackles slipped even tighter. Reyna hissed in pain – they were now so tight she could feel her blood being cut off.

Leo let off a string of Spanish expletives. "Reyna, I'm so sorry-"

"Never mind that!" Reyna ordered. She could hear heavy footsteps approaching, and they sounded close. "Quick, hide over there!" She gestured to the piles of rubble in the far corner of the dungeon.

"But-!"

"You'll be of no use if you get caught! Now, hide!"

He cast her one last helpless look. Then he took off and dived behind one of the rubble piles right as the Cyclops rounded the corner.

He was just as tall and ugly as Reyna remembered, with stringy yellow hair and equally yellow teeth. Reyna felt her stomach drop in anger as she saw half her gladius in between his fingers, as he used it nonchalantly as a toothpick.

"Ah, Roman girl," the Cyclops said, sounding pleased. "I see you have been struggling." His eye landed on her reddening hands. Then he frowned. "I closed door before."

Reyna gritted her teeth. Of course Leo would leave the blasted door open. "No, no," she said in her most soothing voice, which admittedly didn't sound very soothing. "You left it open. That's how I overheard your whole plan."

A look of confusion passed the Cyclops' face, but it cleared up fairly quickly. "Clever girl," it teased. "We were not discussing plans. You just want me to monologue!"

There came an odd noise from the pile Leo was hiding behind that could have been a snort or a screwdriver. Either way, the Cyclops swivelled its eye in his direction, and Reyna internally cursed him to a life without Mexican food.

But outwardly, she tried desperately to keep the Cyclops' attention on herself. Never mind the fact that her hands were starting to swell. "You said we! Who's we? Is there someone else here with you?"

The Cyclops gave her a look like 'duh'. "You think Ed is smart enough to plan this by himself?" He laughed, but his face fell when he realized he had just insulted himself.

Another noise, this time definitely a snicker. Reyna fought every muscle in her face not to scream in frustration. "Ed!" She said brightly. "What a lovely name. Is that short for something?"

Ed must have had an extremely short memory, because he forgot about Leo's laughter and smiled widely at Reyna. She tried not to cringe. "Yes! Edward! That is it! Miss Lamb gave to me. She says it's pretty."

"Very pretty," Reyna complimented. Her hands had begun to throb, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could pretend it didn't hurt. It felt like the blood vessels were about to burst. "And, ah, you said Miss Lamb gave it to you?" He nodded. "Why don't you tell me about her?"

Ed chuckled, returning Reyna's broken sword to his mouth and picking at his teeth. "Ah, ah, sneaky," he teased. "Miss Lamb said you'd ask. She said you'd want to know all about her plan to steal all the children, and-" his face dropped. "Hey."

Reyna's heart was beating quickly. "You were saying? About the children?" She asked desperately.

Ed's face was rapidly turning as purple as Reyna's hands. "You got me monologuing!" He roared. "I hate that!" And he tossed Reyna's broken sword at her.

She ducked, narrowly missing the gladius blade. But the pull on her wrists caused her to cry out in pain, and for a moment her vision blanked. When it cleared, Ed was towering over her with one fist raised.

"You cannot be allowed to live anymore!" He shouted.

"Hey! _Ugly!_"

Both heads turned at the same time. Leo stood heroically on the pile of rubble, one hand pointed at Ed. In his hand was some kind of nail gun, except that instead of a small nail, a large iron drill bit was lodged in its mouth.

Then Leo pulled the trigger, and the drill bit went flying, landing directly in Ed's giant eye.

Ed screeched, stumbling backwards and clawing at his eye. His back slammed into the brick wall, and he dissolved into a pile of dust. Leo leapt off the rubble pile and ran towards Reyna, reloading his drill bit-gun as he did so.

"Hold out your hands!" He yelled.

"What are you doing?" Reyna demanded, but held out her hands anyway. Leo raised the gun, and before she had a chance to point out that maybe this was a really bad idea, he fired.

The drill slammed into the cuffs, and they shattered apart. Shards of iron blasted around her, some slicing her wrists. But nothing compared to the feeling of her blood pumping back up her arms and into her brain. In the worst case of head-rush Reyna had ever experienced, she wobbled and began to pitch forward.

Leo caught her by the shoulders. "Hey!" He shook her. "No time for delicate, fainting ladies! We've gotta move!"

Reyna shook her head, clearing her vision yet again. Her ears were still buzzing, however. "You don't faint when the blood rushes to your head," she found herself saying, "you faint when all the blood leaves your head, and - wait – why am I telling you this? You fired a drill at me!"

"We don't have time for anything else!" Leo snapped. "Your pal Ed over there probably woke up the lady who's running this crack house!"

Reyna eyed the bricked ceiling. He was right, they needed a plan of attack. "But I don't have my weapon-"

"Forget it!" Leo cringed as something, somewhere above their heads made a loud noise. It sounded like something between a demonic roar and a deranged fangirl. Leo and Reyna exchanged a glance and nodded. Then she blinked.

"Valdez?"

"Yeah?"

"Let go of my shoulders, please."

~.~

Of all the people Leo could have run into on his supposedly solo quest, it had to be Reyna, Leo thought as he raced up the stairs behind the praetor.

Running into a person was bad enough. After hours and hours of cajoling campers and convincing Chiron that no, he could totally handle this by himself, it was no biggie, he'd be home in time for dinner; after all that he still ended up with company. But running into Reyna? It wasn't that he disliked Reyna or even minded her – in fact, he liked her as much you could like someone who tried to kill you every time they saw you. It was more that, well, she didn't trust him and yeah, literally tried to kill him every time she saw him.

Maybe it was a good idea he ran into her. Clearly, neither of them had been expecting the Cyclops. Clearly, this was not a one-man job. And it was pretty clear Reyna had needed his help, whether she admitted it or not.

But after all the trouble he went through to be here _by himself_, well, sue him if he was a little miffed.

It was mostly by chance Leo overheard Chiron talking about the foster home. He'd been out by the climbing wall, making some adjustments to Jeeves. Clarisse of the Ares clan had overheard him talking to Harley about how he programmed Jeeves to follow him around with a plate of Tostitos. Clarisse had dropped some snide comment about how useless a footstool butler would be. Leo had taken such offense, he started installing a target system to launch chili peppers at Clarisse whenever she passed.

As he twisted a few screws into place, the sound of hooves on gravel reached his ears. He could hear Chiron talking in a low voice, and soon enough Annabeth's unmistakeable tone replied. She sounded snarky, and tenser than usual. Curious as to what had her gears grinding, Leo listened in.

"...think you aren't taking this seriously enough."

"Annabeth, don't worry, this is sending off red flags for me, too."

"But why aren't we making it an official quest?"

"There haven't been any clear signs-"

"Children in foster care are disappearing off the face of the planet, Chiron, I think that's a pretty clear _sign_-"

"I meant signs from the gods, Annabeth."

Chiron sighed. Leo chanced a look over at them. He had pinched the bridge of his nose, avoiding Annabeth's glare as she crossed her arms.

"It just smells fishy to me. Miss Mia Lamb's Foster Home? Doesn't that sound sinister to you?" She asked, voice tight.

"Maybe you've been spending too much time with Percy, if it smells fishy." Chiron cracked a smile. Annabeth made a face.

Meanwhile, Leo's mind was racing. Something about that name seemed horribly familiar to him, sending warning pistons firing all over his body. Before he even knew what he was doing, Leo had scrambled to his feet and trotted over to where Chiron and Annabeth were standing, Jeeves in tow.

"I could check it out," he offered, voice light and steady despite his hammering heart. "You know, pop my head in? See if there's anything to worry about?"

Annabeth looked like she wanted to argue, but Chiron tilted his head to the side like he was considering it. "You think this is a good idea?"

"Sure, no problemo!" Leo scratched the back of his head. Annabeth narrowed her eyes, and for a second Leo thought she had caught onto him. He tried to look as innocent as possible – _no, I don't think this was one of my old foster homes at all, no need to worry! – _but something told him she wasn't buying it.

But she merely asked him, "Were you eavesdropping on us?"

Leo let out an ashamed chuckle, trying to hide his relief. Chiron sighed, crossing his arms. "You're sure? You aren't busy at all?"

"Nope! Free as a bird. Besides, it can't take that long, right? Especially if there really is nothing there."

And that was how Leo ended up on a train to Colorado. The others had asked why he didn't just take one of his own contraptions. But Festus wasn't completely reassembled yet; and after flying around the world on the Argo II, needing repairs every five minutes, Leo was happy to settle in and let someone else do the work. Apart from Jeeves, he was totally riding solo.

Until Reyna.

She took the steps two at a time, apparently recovered from her dizzy fit. Even without a weapon, she looked dangerous. Leo could barely keep up, and silently cursed that the house had so many stairs. Why did it need so many stairs? Just how deep underground was that dungeon? He wondered if there was an entire labyrinth of underground passages beneath them. Maybe they even led into the famed Labyrinth Percy was always talking about.

He was so lost in his dungeon-tunnel musings that he would have died at the top of the stairs, if not for Reyna.

"Holy Hephaestus!" he shouted, as Reyna's arm smacked into his chest and pushed him back against the wall. Something shiny and very sharp went flying past his nose. Leo looked down the end of the hall, and choked.

Two nuns were facing them, only these didn't look like any nuns Leo had ever seen. For one, they had gray skin and yellow eyes. For two, they had fangs. They were also kinda frumpy, and Leo would have found them silly-looking if not for the glinting swords in their hands.

"What are those?" He yelped. Reyna shook her head.

"I don't know," she said. Her hand went to her side, but she seemed to realize once again that she was weaponless. Before either of them could react, the nuns charged down the hallway, one going for each of them.

Reyna reacted faster than him. She vaulted forward, coming up to meet the evil nun and smacking her in the jaw. For a minute, Leo had been worried about her not having a weapon, but that left his mind pretty quickly. Reyna was either a black belt karate champion or did mixed martial arts cage matches in her spare time. Honestly, neither would have surprised Leo.

Then the second evil nun reached him, and he jolted out of his thoughts. Leo didn't exactly have any weapons ready, unless you counted the drill gun, and that was currently out of drills. So he settled for the next best thing, summoning fire in his hand and punching the nun.

It seemed like a good idea, because she stumbled back, clutching her face. But the next second Reyna was yelling at him. "Are you stupid?" She shouted, ducking under her nun's clawed swipe. "You'll set the whole building on fire!"

Leo gulped. Oh, right, there was the fact that they were in an old house. Made of wood. Full of orphans.

Seeing as he didn't want to start the subject of a Spiderman comic, Leo quickly extinguished the flames. Sister Creepy-Eyes was still clawing at her face, screeching about the burns. She had dropped her sword, and Leo seized the opportunity. Jamming his hand into the magic tool belt, he thought with all his might, _Hammer!_

When he pulled his hand out, the thing he was holding would have made Thor jealous. Leo almost stopped to ponder if he could summon lightning with it (wouldn't that put Jason to shame, oh boy) but the nun was recovering. Leo swung with all his might, clobbering her in the head.

He hit her so hard on the head, the hammer cracked. The nun burst into dust, vanishing completely. Leo stood there, breathing heavily for a second, before looking wildly over to where Reyna was still defending herself well against a sword. But without a weapon of her own, there wasn't much she could do.

The sword had disappeared with the nun, and his hammer wasn't quite so impressive. But Leo had to help her. Once again, he reached into his tool belt. He'd already pulled out so much, it was probably out of juice. Panicking, he blindly fumbled, silently begging for a weapon, another hammer, even a stapler, anything.

But nothing. Leo let out an aggravated shout. Reyna ducked under the nun's swing, rolling backwards. She was breathing heavily. She shot one look back at him, eyes blazing. They were almost shouting at him. _Do something, Valdez!_

So Leo did the only thing he could do, short of burning the building – he tossed the broken hammer.

It worked better than he expected. The edge hit her forehead, and she stumbled backwards. Reyna leapt into action, snatching the sword out of the nun's hands and stabbing her in the chest quicker than a flash.

The nun disintegrated. The sword in Reyna's hands did as well, dust crumbling through her fingers. She stood up, breathing heavily. Leo whistled. "Wow. Remind me to never get on your bad side."

She glared over her shoulder, and he remembered with a start that he was at the top of her list.

Something crashed in another room, and Reyna stiffened. She pressed a finger to her lips, and beckoned for Leo to follow. He complied, tiptoeing behind her as she stealthily headed down the hall.

As they went, Leo couldn't help but notice the amount of doors he passed. This was more like a hotel than a home. The idea that this might have been a B&B at one point crossed his mind, and that naturally led him to thinking about breakfast, and food in general, and just how hungry he was, and how he wished Jeeves were here to offer him a snack-

And then it clicked.

"Reyna," he hissed, trying not to freak out or spontaneously combust, or both. "Reyna, I know what-"

"Quiet," she shot back, in a tone that left no room for arguments.

"But-" Leo argued.

At that moment, they rounded into the kitchen. Standing in the middle of the room was a tall, blonde, and beautiful woman. Her hair cascaded in golden curls down her shoulders, framing the face of a twenty-something supermodel. She was dressed in a simple, elegant white dress, and in her hands was a clipboard. She smiled at Reyna, not seeming to see Leo. That was cool, though, he was used to it. He watched in morbid fascination as her red lips parted, revealing pearly white fangs.

"Ah, our little escapee," she said in a warm, motherly voice. "Not very Roman of you, is it, going off on your own?"

"Declare yourself," Reyna demanded, ignoring the model. Even without any form of weapon, she still radiated an air of danger. Leo felt a little safer beside her.

So he stepped out, opening his mouth. "That's-"

The woman's eyes locked onto him, and she hissed, voice turning snakelike. "Greek!" She snarled, and her body began to shift. Her legs fused together, covering themselves in green scales. Her nails grew longer, scratching the paper on her clipboard. Within seconds, she had gone from supermodel to mermaid-gone-wrong, complete with a writhing snake for a lower half.

"The Lamia," Leo finished.

Reyna looked like she was going to be sick. He didn't blame her. That weird transformation sequence was definitely making Leo green.

Lamia didn't look much better. Apparently being in the presence of a Greek and a Roman at the same time was throwing off her game. Leo could only hope that would be enough to get past her.

Reyna was the first to recover. She darted to the side, behind Lamia and into the kitchen. Leo's mind whirred into action, and he realized what Reyna was doing. Quickly, before the Lamia turned, Leo began clapping his hands together. "Hey!" He shouted. Lamia whirled her head back to him, snakelike eyes narrowing.

"What are you doing in my home, Greek?" She hissed.

"Um," Leo raised his hands. "Shouldn't I be asking you that? I mean, what's a lady like you doing in a place like this-"

Lamia lunged at him. Leo yelped and threw his arms up as a shield, but it wasn't necessary. Lamia suddenly went flying, thrown off to the side. Standing behind her was Reyna, standing tall, with a frying pan in her hands.

Leo stared at it.

"Say nothing," Reyna ground out.

"No, no, frying pans, totally cool, I mean have you seen Tangled? Who knew, right?"

Reyna gave him a look like he was dirt under her shoe. _Excellent,_ Leo thought dryly, _she's exactly my type. _Then Lamia began to stir, picking herself up off the kitchen floor.

"Fools!" She spat. "You have no idea what you are dealing with!"

"Then why don't you tell us?" Reyna brandished her frying pan dangerously.

Leo saw movement from the corner of his eye. "Reyna, duck!"

A second later would have been too late. A ball of flame went shooting over their heads, exploding onto the cupboards dangerously close to the oven. Leo blinked the dust out of his eyes. Before he could think, he felt a hand grabbing his shirt and then he was being dragged out of the kitchen and down the hall. From behind them, he could hear Lamia screeching. "You stupid thing! Do you want to set this place on fire?"

Leo had the feeling that if they weren't running for their lives, Reyna would have shot him a look that said _I told you so_. As it was, she continued to drag him around corners and he struggled to keep up with her.

As they ran past, one of the doors creaked open. Leo caught sight of a pair of large, brown doe eyes staring at him. For a second, he almost stopped running. But then the front doors came into sight, and he put on an extra burst of speed.

They crashed through the doors. Bright sunlight flooded his vision. Leo had forgotten it was still the middle of the day; it had been so dark inside the old house.

Reyna whistled sharply, and loudly. Leo smacked his hands over his ears, glaring, but Reyna wasn't paying attention. Her eyes were focused on the skies, scanning the horizon.

Behind them, the doors slammed open again. Lamia slithered through, coiling on the porch. Leo grabbed Reyna's wrist and dragged her back onto the yard.

"You won't escape, little demigods. My mistress will have you for dessert!" She cawed at them. Leo growled, holding out his hands. They ignited with flame.

"Not if I roast you first," he threatened. This snake-lady was starting to seriously make him mad.

But he couldn't attack, not with the chance of setting the foster home ablaze. He remembered the pair of brown eyes, and the flames in his hands flickered. Lamia seemed to sense his hesitance, and cackled.

A sound like a small airplane came from behind him. Lamia's face promptly fell, and turned into an ugly scowl. Leo turned, and saw a dot on the horizon rapidly racing towards them. "What the-"

"Scipio!" Reyna exclaimed triumphantly. The peanut-butter pegasus shot down towards them, and landed on the grass with a small _boom_.

"Get them!" Lamia screamed, pointing. Reyna jumped on Scipio's back. He skittered nervously, whinnying. Leo watched in horror as about a dozen more evil nuns spilled out, joined by several pretty girls with Twilight T-shirts and fangs.

"Schist," he said flatly.

"Valdez!"

He turned. Reyna had extended a hand down to him. "Are you coming?" she asked.

There was a 50% chance she would throw him off at the first given opportunity. They would be leaving behind a house full of innocent children to a monster made legendary for eating children.

"Quick!" Lamia's cries turned into panic. "Don't let them get away!"

Leo took Reyna's hand. She hauled him up behind her. "Hold on," she warned. With a kick, Scipio shot straight up into the air. Leo wrapped his arms around Reyna's waist as he yelled in shock, the cries of Lamia echoing below them.


	2. Chapter 2

**I continued it! :D**

**Sorry this one is so disgustingly short, I'm making this plot up as I go along okay**

* * *

**Backup II**

* * *

If Leo had thought getting up into the air was the end of it, boy, was he wrong. Even as Scipio soared into the air, several of the pretty fang-ladies jumped after them. Wings sprang from their backs. Leo yelped in shock, craning his neck over his shoulder.

"We're being followed!" He hollered to Reyna over the winds.

She cursed, and pulled Scipio into a series of manoeuvres that had Leo screaming like a little girl – and he was a pretty risky flier. He'd never imagined Reyna as the daring type, but then, it occurred to him that he really didn't know much about her in the first place.

At first, it seemed to work. The screaming ladies fell behind, and then completely out of sight. Leo was about to let out a victory whoop, when one came directly out of the clouds beside them and nearly sliced off his nose.

Once again, Reyna tugged on Scipio's reigns. They dived down, scraping over the Denver skyline. Scipio ducked and weaved, but it just wasn't enough. The fang-ladies were flying around the buildings and spires with just as much dexterity. They were closing in on them, and up close Leo realized they didn't look quite so pretty. For one, under their skirts Leo could clearly one of their legs was bronze and clawed. The other was a donkey leg, and Leo couldn't decide which was uglier. They had leathery bat wings sprouting out of their backs. And fangs. Oh, and one other thing – their hair was on _fire_.

"Reyna," he yelled, still looking over his shoulder. "Can't you get us out of here any faster?!"

"He's going as fast as he can!" Reyna shouted back. Her face had gone very white.

One of the flying fangs (Leo was sure their real names had been mentioned at some point in monster-fighting classes, but for the life of him he couldn't remember) dove down and swiped at his face. Partially out of habit and partially out of fear, Leo's fist ignited and he punched the monster in the face. She screeched and fell back, tumbling into the air. Her back collided with a cement building, and burst into a poof of gold dust.

That's when Leo had his brilliant idea. Leaning forward, he muttered in Reyna's ear. "Drive slower."

"What?"

"Just do it!"

Reyna made a face like she wanted to be sick, but slowed down slightly. The four remaining monsters cackled, clearly thinking they had worn them down.

Leo twisted around, so he was facing backwards. Slowly, carefully, he placed his feet on Scipio's sturdy back. They he pushed up, arms out as he balanced himself.

"What are you doing?" Reyna shrieked, looking back up at him.

"Focus on driving!" Leo's eyes were fixed on the flying monsters. They had bared their fangs once again. With more care than he usually put into his actions, he let his arms erupt in flames.

Balancing on a flying pegasus was a little bit like balancing on a motorcycle zipping down a highway at 100 mph. Leo guessed he had Reyna to thank for being so good at flying, or else he'd have fallen off right away. As it was, he wobbled a lot.

The monsters looked at each other, like they were wondering if he actually was that crazy. Leo would have replied with _Why yes, I am_, but the one on his left shrugged and dive-bombed.

Leo went into battle-mode. He shot a fireball at the approaching monster. It caught her in the chest, and she went flying back, crashing through a window and dissolving. Leo let out a whoop. The other monsters snarled and lunged, but Leo was on fire – no, literally. He began tossing balls of flame like Molotov cocktails. Some hit, most didn't. The ones that missed fizzled out shortly, although he was pretty sure he set a tree or two on fire.

This continued until there was one left. She had been tricky, a much better flier than her companions. Leo tensed, waiting for her strike.

It never came.

She shot straight up into the clouds, disappearing from view. "Did we lose them?" He heard Reyna ask. He narrowed his eyes at the sky.

"One got away," he said, extinguishing his arms.

Reyna cursed again. Leo was glad he didn't understand Latin, because he had the feeling whatever Reyna was saying probably would have gotten him kicked out of school. Slowly, Leo began to turn and crouch back down.

All of a sudden he felt something big collide with his shoulder. In a split second he had tumbled over the side, Reyna's cry of '_Valdez!_' echoing in his ears.

He twisted around in midair to face the fanged lady that had flown straight into him. She grinned, and her fangs glistened. Leo struggled, but she held tight. The concrete was rapidly getting closer.

"If I go to Tartarus," the monster snarled, "then you join me!"

In a blind panic, Leo felt his entire body go ablaze. The fire spread all across the monster's body, and her flaming hair only helped. She screeched in pain, but continued to hold on. Leo's mind felt like clogged gears. He couldn't move, couldn't think, couldn't breathe.

And then – "Valdez, _stop!_"

It was such a clear, precise, and sturdy voice that it instantly sliced through Leo's panic. _Stop what?_ he thought, _falling? _Then he heard the whistle of wings behind him.

The concrete was metres away. Leo closed his eyes, focusing. He extinguished his own fire, drawing it back into himself. The next second, a hand closed around the crook of his elbow and wrenched him out of the grasp of the monster. Chunks of his skin went with her, but Leo didn't care. The tips of his sneakers skidded against the ground, and then they were soaring upward. The screaming monster exploded on impact, leaving behind a small mushroom cloud of dust.

Reyna hauled Leo up behind her, and without much thinking, Leo threw his arms around her waist. "Thanks," he managed, breathing heavily. "The next time someone says you don't totally rock, I'm punching them."

"Flattery won't get you anywhere," she replied, but Leo could hear the hint of a smile in her voice.

Then he looked down at his shoes and moaned. "Oh man. Monster guts on my shoes, _ew_..."

~.~

By the time they set down, the sun was beginning to set. Leo hopped down off Scipio, and held a hand out to Reyna. She ignored him, and gracefully dismounted. "We'll set up camp for the night here. Scipio needs his rest."

"Right." Leo's face had fallen, but only slightly. "Um, where is here, exactly?"

Reyna looked around. '_Here_' was a brown, rocky outcrop in surrounded by green forest. The outcrop was flat-topped, and out in the open. Truth be told, Reyna hadn't really been paying attention as she flew. She had only one thought in mind – away from Denver, and from the Lamia's lair. She guessed her mind had gone on autopilot and brought her somewhere she recognized.

"Mesa Verde," she said, in answer to Leo's question.

His face went slack. "Oh, no way," he breathed. "Mesa Verde? You're kidding, right? Can we-"

He started to move towards the edge of the outcrop, and Reyna caught the back of his shirt. "No, you idiot," she dropped. "There are still tourists and security. They didn't see us land because of the Mist, but I'm sure that if two teenagers dropped down into an ancient city, there might be some commotion."

"So we can go when it gets dark, then?"

The grin on his face was unstoppable. Reyna just barely managed not to roll her eyes. "Yes. You can, if you want."

When it was clear he wasn't going to run off, she let go. Leo continued to stare longingly at the edge as Reyna walked back over to Scipio. Whispering gently to him, he buckled his knees and closed his eyes. When Scipio slept, he nestled his head under his wing like a bird. Reyna had always found it very endearing.

"Mesa Verde," Leo sighed. "I always wanted to come here." He glanced back over at Reyna. "What made you think of it?"

"I came here once," she answered, brushing her hand through Scipio's mane. "With-"

Abruptly, she stopped. Yes, the quest to Mesa Verde three years ago had been one she remembered fondly, and sometimes thought about. Yes, it made sense that she subconsciously guided herself to a place she only associated with good memories.

Now, she wished she hadn't.

"Jason," Leo finished for her. "You came here with Jason."

An uncomfortable silence stretched between them. It wasn't as if the air around them had been comfortable before, but at least it had been companionable. Now it just felt heavy and awkward.

"Look," he started, and when she chanced a glance up at him, he was moving a thousand different ways – tapping his foot, scratching his arm, eyes looking anywhere but her. "I know, all this stuff between you and Jason is-"

"Not your concern," Reyna said flatly. She felt a sudden, overwhelming pressure and the need for this conversation to be over. "We should be focusing on the Lamia and what she is planning."

Leo opened his mouth. He looked very pained, like he wanted to say something else. But Reyna glared fiercely at him and he swallowed it back. "What plans?" was what he said in the end.

"You heard her." Now back in her element, Reyna's pulse was slowing again. "She distinctly used the words 'my mistress.' Now, the Lamia isn't featured as prominently in Roman mythology, but I'm fairly certain she never had a mistress."

Leo nodded. "And what were those things chasing us? You know, the ones with the flaming hair and the Twilight T-shirts? And what about those evil nuns?"

Reyna tapped her chin. "Flaming hair..." she mused. "I didn't get a good look at them. Describe them to me."

"Well." Leo scrunched up his nose. "They had one brass leg, and one donkey leg. Oh, and fangs. They were freaky-looking, that was for sure. Kind of like demonic cheerleaders."

Reyna thought about it. They certainly sounded familiar, although not like any Roman myth she'd ever heard. But they also studied Greek mythology sometimes, even if the campers like Octavian disapproved. Reyna had always found it important to understand where the foundations of their culture came from. And besides, her own sister was part of a very Greek culture. Reyna couldn't very well turn her back on it-

Something clicked in her head. She sat up straighter. "Did you say Twilight T-shirts?"

Leo looked confused. "Um, yeah. Why does that matter?"

Everything in Reyna's mind was whirring, like a well-oiled machine. The pieces began to fit together, and she abruptly stood up and began to pace. "My sister," she said, "is obsessed with vampire fiction."

"Isn't she an Amazon?"

"The queen of them, yes. Not just Hylla, but every Amazon it seems is fascinated by the literature." Reyna ignored the fact that she did not consider Twilight literature, because she was thinking too fast. "She talks about it constantly."

"Okay." Leo was looking more and more lost as she spoke. "What does this have to do with flaming hair ladies?"

"The Lamia is sometimes considered to be the first ever vampire," Reyna stated. "Or that vampires were inspired by her, whichever you prefer. But some argue that the _empusae_ were the mothers of the modern vampire."

Leo jolted. "Oh, I remember! Empusae! We learned about them in monster classes, I just completely forgot!" He frowned. "Wouldn't that make the evil nuns _mormo_, then?"

Reyna started. She'd figured out as much for herself, but had not expected Leo to come to the same conclusion. "Yes," she said. "All vampire-like creatures of Greco-Roman myth in the same place is too suspicious to be anything but something big. They must all be pawns, part of some much larger plan orchestrated by someone much more powerful."

She fell silent. Her eyes met Leo's, and she could see that they were both thinking the same thing. They had stumbled onto something much larger than either of them had been prepared for. And Reyna may not have known Leo Valdez very well, but she knew by the pallor in his face that the word 'mistress' scared him just as much as it scared her.

The Reyna remembered that this was a boy who had sailed across the Mare Nostrum with hateful Romans hot on his heels, towards the greatest evil known to man. He had been tortured and manipulated by Gaia. He had been blamed for the start of a war that was not his fault, and most of the blame had come from Reyna herself.

And yet, here he was, standing beside the girl who had wrongly accused him, with no malice or ill-will. Despite being scared of what may lie ahead, he didn't move away or even flinch. He stood with a perfect willingness and readiness to work with her.

And in that moment, Reyna found herself thinking she might have misjudged Leo Valdez just a little bit.

"We'll need more intel," she said. "Someone who knows about vampires in modern fiction. Hylla would be the perfect choice, but I don't think we should visit Amazon headquarters. She may have won the right to be queen, but the hierarchy is still shaky. Some of them don't like me, and their opinion of me would drop even lower if I brought a male among their midst. I will ask her to meet us somewhere safe."

She turned to Leo, who had been silent through her speech, and stopped when she saw the look on his face. He looked gobsmacked. "What?"

"You..." he pointed at her. "You said we?"

Reyna hoped she wasn't going as red as she felt. "Yes," she snapped irritably. "This is your quest as well as mine, is it not? We can work together or apart, but it will go faster if we're together."

Leo beamed. Now Reyna was certain she was crimson, and hurried to change the topic. "Is there a method of communication you Greeks use that is fast? I have no access to the eagles."

"Oh, yeah." Leo shaded his eyes and looked up at the setting sun. It was already halfway past the horizon. "Uh, I think we're a little late, but I can do it in the morning."

Reyna nodded. "All right. We'll camp out here tonight. I'll take the first watch, and-"

"Whoah, whoah." Leo held out his hands. "Hold it right there. Look, you may be tough but you aren't a machine, Reyna. You need rest. You've been flying this guy all day, and I'll bet you're as tired as he is."

He gestured to Scipio. The poor pegasus was snoring on the ground, and looking at how peaceful he seemed, Reyna felt her eyelids begin to drop.

"But you were fighting," she argued weakly.

"Yeah, but I may have had a power nap on the way here." He chuckled guiltily as Reyna made an indignant noise. So that explained the twenty minutes he spent with his head on her shoulder. "So I'll take first watch. No big."

Reyna would have argued more. Really, she would have. But exhaustion hit her like a freight train and she found herself mumbling "Wake me in an hour," as she curled up on the ground. She fell asleep to the sounds of fire crackling and the feel of the sun disappearing behind the mountains.


	3. Chapter 3

**Ew sorry this took so long. Luckily I've finished my school project so I should be baging out the rest of this story in the next few days. I don't think it'll be more than five chapters, so...halfway!**

**Thanks again to Stormfire76 for reminding me that Uncle Rick spells 'empousae' differently than I do :)**

* * *

**Backup III**

* * *

The next thing Reyna knew, she was being shaken awake. Quickly she sat up, eyes adjusting to the dark. "What is it?"

Then she blinked a few times, and her vision actually focused. She realized several things at the same time. One, it was much too dark for just an hour to have gone by, and Leo hadn't woken her for watch. Two, said Leo was crouching beside her, with a crooked grin on his face.

"How long did you let me sleep for?" Reyna demanded. Leo's grin only broadened. He didn't look tired at all. In fact, he looked hyped.

"The tourists are gone," he said simply.

For a moment, Reyna stared at him in silence. What did he mean? Then it dawned on her, and she began to protest. "No-"

But it was too late. Leo had grabbed her wrist and was dragging her up. "Come on!" He exclaimed, pulling her towards the cliff's edge.

They scaled down the rock with ease. Leo was much faster than her, and she was surprised he could climb so well; but then she supposed being scrawny and light made it easier, and there was a climbing wall at his camp. It was harder for Reyna because she still wore most of her armour, and she was both unsurprised and resentful when he reached the bottom before her.

He let go, dropping easily a few feet to land on the roof of one of the stone buildings. He then held out his arms, gesturing for her to jump. Reyna firmly ignored him, and landed nimbly beside him.

Leo, however, took it in stride. He stuck his hands in his pockets and began wandering along the roof, kicking up dust as he went. Reyna crossed her arms, and followed. "They'll know someone was here, idiot."

Despite it being dark out, she could still see the brightness of Leo's grin. "Who? Who actually comes up on the roof?" He continued on his way, reaching the edge of the building.

Reyna hung back. Although she wouldn't admit it, she really didn't like breaking the rules. "We shouldn't be here," she said again.

Leo was standing on the very edge of the roof. He craned his neck, looking at her over his shoulder. "Come on," he said. "Haven't you ever done anything you weren't supposed to?"

Reyna flinched internally. He could see through her like Saran Wrap.

Beckoning with his fingers, Leo lifted one foot and dangled it over the roof. When Reyna didn't move, he shrugged. "Suit yourself." And with one foot he jumped over the side of the building.

Her heart dropped straight into her stomach. "Leo!" She shouted, surging forward. Pebbles and dust kicked off the edge of the roof, landing with a clatter onto the ground, on which stood a very much alive Leo with a surprised look on his face not six feet below her.

Leo's face promptly broke out into a huge, shit-eating grin that put Octavian's faces to shame. "Aw, did I make you worry?"

Reyna ground her teeth, willing her heart to slow down. She was a praetor, she wasn't _supposed_ to scare that easily.

"Just shut up," she said stonily, hopping down beside him.

Leo shrugged, miming the words _'As you wish.'_

She followed him as he wandered through the ancient ruins, still tensed. She was still without a weapon, and had left that admittedly handy frying pan back with Scipio. At least Leo still had his tool belt. She supposed a screwdriver would do in a pinch.

"So am I still on talking probation, or am I allowed to ask what you did here?"

Leo's voice interrupted her musings, and her eyes flashed over to him. He had his hands clasped behind his back, a seemingly innocent pose. Reyna didn't trust it for an instant.

He seemed to catch on pretty quickly, and unclasped them. Raising them in a mock surrender (something he did a lot, Reyna noticed) he said, "Hey, Jason's my friend, too. Can't I just know, for like, friendship's sake?"

Reyna rolled her eyes. But he'd slowed his pace, and was now walking a little ways beside her. And Reyna figured it couldn't hurt just to tell the story.

"It was an easy quest," she explained. "Some Lares had taken up residence here, and were disturbing the ancestral spirits. We banished them, and-"

"Whoah, whoah." Leo held up two fingers, brows furrowing. "Hold up there. Lares? What? And what ancestral spirits?"

"Lares are house ghosts," Reyna supplied. "Mostly they stay in New Rome, but some will wander. And this is a very old, sacred ground. Do you really think there isn't some ancient magic that still exists here?"

Leo shivered, hunching his shoulders. Reyna scoffed lightly. "Don't worry yourself. It doesn't concern us now."

"Right." Leo still looked uncertain. "Man, Jason did some weird stuff..."

"Jason did some very Roman stuff," Reyna bit back. She didn't mean to, and the second after she regretted it.

Leo raised his eyebrows. "And Jason is..."

"An unapproachable topic." Reyna brushed ahead of him, shoulders set.

"Right."

They walked on in silence for a bit. With every passing step, Reyna cursed herself for running off her mouth like that. She'd been so good about not bringing up her past with Jason, but there she went, talking about him to Leo Valdez of all people.

The silence was getting unbearable. Reyna started chewing on her lip, something she hadn't done since she was thirteen. Turning around, she opened her mouth just as Leo began to speak.

"Have you-"

"Did you-"

Both broke off. Reyna cleared her throat. "Please, continue."

"No, no, you go." Leo looked sheepish. "I wasn't actually going to say anything. I don't think."

The corner of Reyna's mouth turned up. Maybe he'd been just as uncomfortable with the silence as she was. "You mentioned earlier that you've always wanted to visit here." He nodded. "Why didn't you?"

"Ah, reasons." When Reyna raised an eyebrow, he elaborated. "No one would take me."

"Oh." How sad.

"Well, I was in foster homes, mostly." Leo explained. "A lot of them just didn't have the money to take kids on interstate trips to national parks. And yeah, some of them just were assholes to begin with."

"How many homes were you in?" Reyna inquired.

"A lot." Leo was loosening up; she could see it in his shoulders. "Some were just people looking for those government cheques every month. Oh! And there was this one, a nunnery, right?" He shook his head. "Psychos, all of them. I think I'm never trusting nuns again, especially after today."

"Were any of them ever like the home today?"

"Oh yeah." Leo's eyes became a bit duller, visible even in the moonlight. "Actually, that's the main reason I came."

"Because you thought the home might be one of your old ones," Reyna inferred.

Leo nodded. "It was the name. I recognized it, but-"

"You didn't know where from."

"Yeah. I mean, it makes sense, there were so many that I definitely don't remember all their names."

"But why would you want to go back?" By this point, they had reached the edge of the city. Reyna stopped, crossing her arms. She couldn't understand wanting to return to a place that made someone sad.

"Well." Leo's hands dug into his tool belt, and he began fiddling around with something absentmindedly. He wouldn't meet her eyes. "I ran away from most of those homes, you know."

"Yes?" Reyna still wasn't getting it. He must have run away for a reason then.

Leo's hands worked even faster. Reyna wondered if this was something he always did when nervous or distracted. "I left a lot of other kids behind."

And now Reyna understood. He felt guilty. "You wanted to go back and check on them."

Leo laughed, although there was little humour in it. "Boy, you really can read a guy like a manual."

Reyna looked down. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry."

"Nah, it's cool." Leo opened his hands, revealing a small gadget with rotating helicopter blades. He twisted something, and the tiny blades began to spin, lifting the little machine into the air. Had he done all that just when talking to her?

"Running away isn't anything to be ashamed of," Reyna said suddenly. Leo snatched the copter out of the sky, staring at Reyna incredulously.

"That doesn't sound very Roman," he said. "I thought running away was like, the greatest dishonour or something."

"We ran away today, didn't we?" Reyna reasoned. "It's not so much deserting, but knowing when to pick your battles, and when to return and fight another day."

"I guess." Leo didn't sound convinced. He let go of the copter again, and this time when it flew up, it released several sparks, like miniature fireworks.

"Really," Reyna insisted. "I've-"

And then she stopped, abruptly closing her mouth and blinking her eyes. For a moment, she'd forgotten completely where she was, and who she was speaking to. For a moment, she'd almost slipped up and told him about the pirates, and Circe's island, and everything.

Leo was a disturbingly easy person to talk to. She wondered how many other people found themselves spilling secrets completely by accident.

"We should head back," she said shortly, turning on her heel. "We need to be up at sunrise, and we have a lot of things to accomplish tomorrow."

"Yeah, okay." Leo hurried along behind her. If he was confused by the sudden change in topic, he didn't mention it, and for that Reyna was grateful.

The copter whizzed along behind them, sending off sparks into the still air.

When they got back to the campsite, Leo reignited the fire and promised to keep up watch. Reyna argued a bit, but gave up fairly quickly. She still felt awfully tired, and didn't feel like sitting awake, all by herself, thinking over things like pirates and the last time she was here with Jason and they watched a meteor shower.

Unfortunately, her dreams weren't really a better option.

Demigod dreams really do stink, Reyna thought to herself as she looked around said dream. She was in a dark room, and the air was cold and dry. Something slithered towards her, and she turned quickly, reaching for a sword that wasn't there.

Lamia materialized from the shadows, in her Roman form once again. But despite the lack of scaly tail, her legs still made the sound of snakes moving though dry grass.

"Everything is going according to plan, my lady," Lamia announced, still clutching her clipboard.

"Everything?" Another voice responded, and Reyna shivered involuntarily. The voice was high and cold, and very dangerous. "Are you sure about that?"

Lamia's face paled. "The demigods may have momentarily escaped us. But they will not get far. I will send forces after them-"

"You sound tired, Lamia." The cold voice cut in. "Are you sure you're qualified for your job anymore?"

Lamia swallowed. "My lady, I am a little hungry. You promised I could have the leftovers, but there aren't very many." The temperature in the room seemed to drop twenty degrees, and Lamia hurried on. "But I am fine, really! About the demigods-"

"Don't bother." The other voice had lost its iciness, and now sounded brighter and more relaxed. "They only know about you. I don't care if you get killed, as long as they don't know about my plans."

Lamia flinched. They way the voice in the shadows had so easily announced that she didn't care if her servant died made Reyna's hands turn impossibly cold.

"They don't know about my plans, do they?" The cold voice asked, lower than before. Lamia shook her head slowly, lips shaking.

"No-not that I kn-know of, m-my lady ."

"That you _know of?_"

Lamia fell to her knees, gasping desperately. "I don't know, my lady! Something may have slipped – but I don't know if they caught it – or if they understand what it means-"

The voice in the darkness let out an inhumane shriek. Reyna covered her ears, but in her dream state the noise pierced right through her hands. "You insolent fool!" The voice shrieked. "Do you have any idea what will happen if they find us?"

"My lady-"

"The last time, my plans were foiled by demigods," the voice seethed. "I will not let the same thing happen twice!"

Lamia's voice was very small when she spoke. "What shall we do, mistress?"

"Extra fortifications." The cold voice was now devoid of any emotion, and spoke with an eerie calm. "Pull anyone we don't need. And ready the first army."

Lamia swallowed. "My lady, they may not be ready yet-"

"Just _do it_."

And on that disturbing note, Reyna awoke.

~.~

They contacted Reyna's sister through an Iris-message as soon as the sun rose over the horizon. She agreed to meet them in Salt Lake City. Reyna promptly complained that this was far too much for Scipio to fly, and to that her sister replied that it was the only place close to them she could charter a plane on such short notice, and if she wanted her help then shut her cakehole.

Leo had to bite back a snort as Reyna's face turned a lovely shade of red. She agreed with a resentful mutter, and gestured to Leo to turn off the spray gun.

"Can your belt really get anything?" She asked, looking rather unnerved as he dropped the spray gun into his belt.

"Usually only tool related things," he answered. "You know, stuff you find in a workshop."

"You can find spray guns in a workshop?"

Leo stopped and blinked. "Um." He hadn't actually thought of that. "Well, pretend you can."

Was it his imagination, or was she smiling slightly? "I suppose they would be useful for cleaning off greasy things."

"Truthfully, I think it's just being nice." Leo glanced down at the belt. "It must feel my pain over the loss of Jeeves."

Now he was definitely seeing a smile on her face. But it didn't last long. "There's something I should share with you. I had a dream last night."

Leo was instantly on guard. "Like, what kind of a dream?"

Her face flared that lovely shade of red again. "A _demigod_ dream, you imbecile," she shot. Ooh, imbecile. That was new. Leo filed it away into his list of personal insults from gorgeous girls, to be used later as needed.

Reyna started explaining what she saw. By the time she finished, his mind was in hyper-drive. "Army?" He asked. "What did she mean by army?"

"How should I know?" Reyna's face was a mask of worry as she strapped the stolen frying pan to her empty scabbard. "But whatever it is, it can't be good. We should leave to meet Hylla immediately."

"Yeah, okay." Leo followed her as she mounted Scipio, and held out a hand to help him. He accepted it with ease, letting her pull him up. He settled in nicely, wrapping his arms around her waist.

She turned, glaring. "Do you need to do that?"

"Yes," Leo replied. "I might fall off."

She didn't argue, but her eyes could burn holes in his face. Leo thought that might be a pretty nice sensation. Then she spurred Scipio, and they flew off into the morning.

Leo tried to make conversation as they flew, but Reyna didn't seem like she wanted to talk. Leo could practically see the gears in her head grinding as she tried to figure out what is was they were up against. It wasn't as if Leo wasn't worried about it. But from past experience, he found it a lot less stressful not to be constantly thinking about bad or scary things.

It was about lunchtime when they landed in Salt Lake City. Reyna led them to the place Hylla had mentioned, a small sidewalk cafe across form a park. Reyna landed in the park near a group of small children. As they dismounted, one little girl approached them with wide eyes.

"Can I have a pony ride?" She asked, looking at Scipio in awe. Even with the Mist at work, he clearly still looked like a real horse.

"No," Reyna answered shortly. The little girl's face fell. Leo frowned, giving her a look. "What?" She hissed.

"That was a little harsh," he answered. Reyna tightened her fist like she wanted to punch him, but refrained. Instead, she turned to the little girl.

"No, but you can watch him for us until we get back," Reyna said in her nicest voice. It sounded believable enough, but the smile looked like it was going to crack her face. The little girl gasped in delight, clasping her hands together.

"See?" Leo grinned, starting to walk towards the cafe. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

She didn't answer, and started marching ahead of him. Leo sighed. "One day, someone will appreciate me," he joked mourningly.

Hylla was waiting for them at a table, eyes roving over the iPad she was holding. Leo had only seen her through the Iris-message, and was astounded by how similar she looked to Reyna. It was almost as if someone had hit the fast-forward button a few years. She looked up as they approached, and when her eyes landed on Leo, they narrowed. "Who is this?" she asked suspiciously.

"Leo Valdez," Reyna answered. "You should know him. He's one of the Seven."

"Hm." Hylla kept her lips pursed. "I suppose it's fine, if you say we can trust him. But I don't like working with men."

It was a testament to how much Leo enjoyed being insulted by pretty girls that he felt a warm, bubbling sensation when Hylla spoke. "You really must be related to Reyna," he joked, giving what he hoped was a charming smile.

Hylla looked blankly. Reyna rolled her eyes and sat down. "Ignore him. He thinks he's funny."

"What exactly did you need me for?" Hylla's eyes slid from Leo to her sister. "You said it was important."

"It is," Reyna replied simply. She began to explain their encounter with Lamia, the mormo and empousae, and the house of orphans. Hylla nodded.

"It makes sense," she said. "Lamia was famous for eating children. I'm sure the orphanage is really a slaughterhouse."

"That's pleasant." Leo almost gagged. They had left all those children there?

"But that's not where it ends," Reyna continued. "Lamia spoke of a mistress, someone she answered to. And last night I had a dream confirming it."

"Did you see her mistress?" Hylla asked.

"No, she was in shadows. But she sounded young. Perhaps my age."

They talked so fast, it was like following a ping pong match. Leo found himself almost cracking his neck looking back and forth between them.

"And there's something else bothering me," Reyna continued. "The mormo and empousae are both vampiric monsters. It's too similar. There must be something they are all working towards."

"And you thought of my obsession with vampire fiction," Hylla finished for her. "You were absolutely right to call me, then. There's something I want to show you."

From the bag slung over the chair she sat on, Hylla pulled a book and set it on the table in front of them. Leo leaned over and looked at it. It looked like any other typical teen romance, a black cover with a handsome dude's face on it, eyes glowing red. In glossy letters, the title read "_Kiss of a Fallen._"

Reyna curled her lip. "You read this?"

Hylla ignored her. "Half my Amazons have read this book, and are infatuated by it. Sales have rocketed, and we're shipping it out to every corner of the world. It's reached the New York Times best-sellers."

"That doesn't sound that weird," Leo commented. "I mean, this kind of book is really popular."

"That's not the strange part," Hylla said darkly. "Look at the publication date."

Hesitantly, Leo and Reyna looked at each other. She pulled the book towards them, and flipped open the cover. They leaned in, shoulders brushing. Leo's eyes widened, and he could feel Reyna stiffen.

"This book was published three days ago," she said, horror creeping into her tone.

Hylla nodded grimly. "And it isn't just that. All of my Amazon's who have read it are threatening to leave. They all talk about going to a place called The Mansion in Colorado."

Leo and Reyna exchanged another look. He could tell she was thinking the same thing as him. She made to search the book, but he snatched it away.

"Hey!" Reyna said indignantly. Leo raised an eyebrow.

"This book is some kind of mind-scrambling, hypnotic magic," he argued. "It might affect you."

"It could also affect you," Reyna counter argued. She didn't let go of the corner of the book she still held.

"Pretty sure I'm not going to fall for a hot vampire dude," Leo said dryly. "Unless he's actually a she. Which I don't find likely."

Reyna glared at him for several more seconds. Finally she relinquished her grip. "Fine. But if you get a sudden urge to find The Mansion, I'm not stopping you."

"Thank you," Leo mumbled sarcastically. He chanced a glance at Hylla. She was staring at the two of them, an odd look on her face. But when she saw him looking, the look was replaced with one of complete calm.

Shaking his head slightly, Leo flipped the book open. He scanned the first few pages, and cringed. "Well, it's as we've feared," he sighed dramatically. "The grammar is terrible and I've never seen a limper plot in my life."

"_Leo._"

"And The Mansion is this house in Colorado where all these vampire hotties live." He added quickly. "Check the address." He flipped the page towards Reyna, finger in place.

"The address of Lamia's orphanage," Reyna said flatly. "They're being led like lambs to the slaughter."

Reyna put her head in her hands, massaging her temples. Leo put the book back down on the table, and watched her. Her brows were furrowed, and she had started chewing on her lip. Leo had always thought Reyna was a very attractive girl, but right now he just thought she was downright cute.

Then her eyes snapped open and he looked away quickly. "I've got it," she said. "I remember in my dream. Lamia said this: 'you promised I could have the leftovers.' That must be it. Teenage girls are being drawn to this house by the magic in the book, and given to whoever Lamia is working for. Whichever ones she doesn't like, she leaves for Lamia to eat."

"And what's she doing with the ones she does like?" Leo swallowed. "Do you think that's the army she was talking about?"

"An army of deranged, hypnotized, teenaged fangirls," Reyna mused. "This really is worse than we thought."

"What kind of monster has that kind of power?" Leo asked. Reyna looked to Hylla, who blinked as if she was coming out of a trance.

"Honestly, it could be anything,' she admitted. "Hypnotic magic can be bought in small amounts through Amazon. I'm sure it could be enhanced by anyone who tried."

Reyna frowned at her sister. "You need to start monitoring who you ship to," she said, annoyed. "You're making life hard for me."

"That's what sisters are for," Hylla smiled, reaching over to pinch Reyna's cheek. Reyna swatted her hand away. Leo snorted a bit.

"Sorry," he said when Reyna glared, but he didn't mean it. Her glares weren't scaring him anymore.

Reyna took the book back, opening the first page again. She scanned it. "Here," she said. "This is where we need to go."

The address was, luckily, just a few miles away, thanks to the information from Hylla's iPad. It was an old warehouse, turned into a factory where the books were being mass-produced. "That's where we'll find whoever is behind this," Reyna said decidedly.

She gave the book back to Hylla, who put it back in her bag. "Are you coming with us?"

Hylla shook her head. "I can't leave my Amazons. If this is all true, I need to protect them." She locked eyes with Reyna. "I leave it to you to defeat his enemy."

Then her eyes slid over to Leo. There was a twinkle in her eye that made Leo a little uncomfortable. "The colour orange looks very becoming on you," she told him lightly. "You should consider it in a jumpsuit."

Reyna choked, and Leo's head nearly burst into flames. Hylla waved at them, and took off down the sidewalk. As soon as she was out of earshot, Leo whipped around to Reyna. "Did your sister just _hit_ on me?"

Reyna had her head in her hands. "I hate her," she said shortly. Her face was burning red. "I hate her so much."

Leo snickered, and crossed his arms behind his head. "Yeah, all the ladies love me."

She punched his arm. "Cut it out." Then she stood. "Come on, we need to get going."

"Whoah, whoah." Leo held out a hand, stopping her. "Reyna, it's been like, twelve hours since either of us ate anything. Let's just sit down and have lunch. Okay?"

She might have argued, but the sudden growl her stomach gave said otherwise. Silently, she sat back down.

They ordered when the waiter came by; Leo a taco and Reyna a simple sandwich. Leo looked around at the scenery, and was transported to another time. About a year ago, he'd been pretty close to this place.

Reyna was studying him. "What are you thinking about?"

"Hm?" Leo blinked. "Oh, nothing. It's just, I hope no angry nymphs come looking for us."

Reyna raised her eyebrows. "Do I want to know?"

Leo launched into the tale of how he and Hazel stole the Celestial bronze from Narcissus to repair the ship. He left out the bit about the ship being damaged by attacking the Romans, of course. Things were going so well with Reyna, he didn't want her to fall back into old habits of attempted murder again.

When he got to the bit about Echo, however, his throat closed up and he wasn't sure why. Reyna looked at him oddly. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," he managed. "Anyway, one of these nymphs was named Echo."

Reyna nodded. "The one in love with Narcissus, I know this tale."

Leo nodded. "Yeah. She saved us, basically. And then stayed behind to try and save that twit."

"Do you think it worked?"

Leo looked out across the street. "I don't know. With the Doors of Death closing, they might have both just gone back to the Underworld."

Reyna was silent for several minutes. They had long since finished their meals, and the empty plates sat on the table. Leo leaned back on his chair, lost in thought. He didn't know why thinking about Echo made him so sad. Or maybe he did know, but he didn't want to think about that, either."

"Perhaps," Reyna cleared her throat. "When this is over, and if we get back alive, we can stop by the lake and check on them."

Leo looked at her in surprise. "Really?"

"Well." Reyna avoided his gaze. "If we make it out alive, there are about a hundred things we should do."

Leo let out a laugh. "Yeah, like get married," he muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Let's go!" Leo jumped to his feet. He dug around in his tool belt for some spare change. There wasn't enough to pay for the meal, but he dumped it on the table and the two hurried across the street before anyone could notice. Leo promised himself he'd come back and pay the rest, if he was still breathing.

In the park, a small crowd of children had gathered around Scipio. They parted when Reyna approached, bowing slightly. Reyna raised her eyebrows, and looked at the little girl they'd left with Scipio.

"He's a magic horse," she proclaimed loudly. The other children nodded, smiling. Leo felt himself smiling a little, too. So maybe these kids were young enough to see right through the Mist.

"That means," the little girl continued, pointing at Reyna. "That _you_ must be a princess."

Leo laughed outright. Reyna looked astonished. "A what?" She managed.

"Yes, she is," Leo told the girl. "A magical princess from a very faraway kingdom."

"Then are you a prince?" She asked innocently. Leo's smile grew even wider.

"Yup, You can call me Fire Prince Leo-"

"Come on, Fire Prince Leo," Reyna said dryly, grabbing the back of his shirt. "We have dragons to fight."

"That we do." Leo gave all the kids a wave, and hopped onto Scipio's back behind Reyna.

"Princesses can fight dragons?" The little girl asked in awe. The entire crowd of children was staring at them now.

Reyna smiled for the first time; a real, genuine smile. It lit up her face. "Of course they can!" She declared. Then she spurred Scipio, and he flew up into the air. Leo could hear the sounds of the children, screaming in delight and shouting to their parents about how they just met a magical prince and princess, as they ascended up above the skyline of Salt Lake City.


	4. Chapter 4

**So okay I am so sick, like really sick. Does anyone have any good remedies for feeling like your head's been wrapped in Saran Wrap and somebody's pulling on it constantly?**

* * *

**Backup IV**

* * *

Leo wasn't too sure whose bright idea it was to create warehouses, but he wanted to strangle them. In all his experiences, he had never come across anything creepier than an abandoned warehouse.

"I'm not going in there," he told Reyna blatantly.

"You'll be fine," she said, although she wasn't very reassuring.

The warehouse was huge, sprawling, and completely empty. There was nothing around for miles that Leo could see except tumbleweed and pretty rock formations. If something went wrong, there would be no one around for miles to help them.

"Stay in the area," Reyna told Scipio. The pegasus whinnied, and took off.

"Are you kidding?" Leo was incredulous. "That's the same thing you did last time, and look where you ended up!"

"It's too conspicuous to try and bring him in," Reyna countered. "This calls for stealth, Valdez, not brute force."

"Right." Still unconvinced, Leo turned back to studying the building. "So, almighty praetor. Got a plan of attack?"

"Always do."

"Mind filling me in?"

She pointed to the large, obvious doors at the front of the warehouse. "Divide and conquer. One of goes through there while the other finds a side door and sneaks in that way-"

"Okay, okay, hold up." This was the third time Leo was being the voice of reason in two days. It was unnerving him. "Divide and conquer is a great strategy when you've got a whole Roman army behind you. We're only two freaking people."

"It's still an effective strategy-"

Leo snapped out his hand, grabbing her wrist. He forced her to face him. She did so, sullenly. "We do it together," he said firmly.

Reyna stared at him hotly for a solid two minutes before relinquishing. "Fine," she muttered. "We both find a side door."

"Better." Leo raised himself from his crouching position. Reyna followed, the two of them sneaking along the rocky ground.

"Once we get inside, then what do we do?"

"Free the hypnotized army, defeat the master of operations, and destroy every last one of those books. Not necessarily in that order."

"Right, and we've got a plan for freeing hypnotized fangirls? Cause, uh, the only person I've ever seen do that is Piper, and she's not exactly here right now."

Reyna went silent. Leo risked a chance behind him. Her face had gone stony. Leo realized too late that Piper probably wasn't the person he should be bringing up around Reyna. He wasn't that much off an idiot, he knew about Reyna's feelings for Jason. The thought left him a little hollow. He made to apologize, but to his surprise Reyna went first.

"Do you like her?' She asked abruptly. Her voice sounded strange. "Piper?"

"Uh." Leo wasn't too sure what she meant by that. "Yeah? I guess?"

If Leo thought that Reyna was the kind of person to sulk, he would swear that was what she was doing right now. "She seems to have that effect on people."

"Oh!" In a flash, Leo realized what Reyna had meant. "No, I don't like her like that. Jeez, no. I mean, she's cool and all, but kinda annoying sometimes. She's like that big sister that always butts into your business, you know?"

Reyna's stoic expression broke, and she half-smiled. "Yes, I know that feeling," she said, sounding almost relieved. Leo didn't want to think about what that meant.

They had reached the side of the building. Reyna looked quickly in either direction. "There's a door down that way," she said. Leo squinted.

"I don't see anything."

"There, I can see it down the east wall."

"Do you have the eyes of a hawk or something?" Leo mumbled. He still couldn't see it, but didn't argue and followed her as she took the lead.

"So," he continued. "About that hypnotism problem."

"There was probably magic in the pages of the books," Reyna said. "If my knowledge of magic is correct, it's the kind that is dependent on its source. We find the source of the magic and nullify it, thus causing all of its effects to nullify as well."

They reached the door. Leo looked at her suspiciously. "How do you know all this about magic?"

Reyna wouldn't meet his eyes. "Now's not the time." Leo wanted to say more, but she steamrollered through. "Can you pull a lock pick from that belt?"

"Did it once, can do it again," Leo replied, digging in and pulling a set out. "Can you use them?"

She raised an eyebrow almost playfully, and quickly fiddled with the lock. In half a second, the door swung open. "Why don't you tell me?"

Leo grinned. "Aw man, you are just the coolest person I have ever met."

Reyna smirked, and slipped through the door. Leo followed. "No, I'm serious! You're like, Lara Croft and Wonder Woman fused together. You fight like a _bamf_, use a frying pan as a weapon, can pick locks like no big deal, and you know all this stuff about magic! Like, how do you exist with all that awesomeness inside you?"

"Probably the same way you do," Reyna said sarcastically. "And I don't even know what _bamf_ means."

"It stands for bad ass mother f-"

Reyna cut him off, suddenly pushing them back against the wall. Her hand covered his mouth, her body pressed into his. His heart started beating too fast, and his hair almost burst into flame. He could feel Reyna's heart pounding almost in synch with his.

Then he heard hissing voices from down the corridor across from them, and tensed. The voices got louder and closer. Leo began making out what some of them were saying.

"...mistress wants the first army awakened..."

"...aren't ready..."

"...magic hasn't taken hold..."

Reyna's eyes met Leo's. He nodded, and she removed her hand. Her face was just inches away from his, and he swallowed.

Reyna stepped back abruptly, brushing her hair back from her face. She jerked her thumb in the direction of the voices, and Leo nodded again. His heart was still pounding.

Together, they began sneaking in the direction of the voices. Poking their heads around the corner, Leo saw ten or so of the dumpy nuns – mormo – shuffling down the corridor. They were making so much general noise as they went, it was easy even for someone as loud as Leo to follow them. Reyna was much better at it, she was like a superspy. _Is there anything she can't do?_ Leo thought wistfully.

Abruptly the mormo turned a corner, and shuffled away. Leo and Reyna exchanged a glance, before following. Around the corner was a smaller hallway, with a large door at the end of it. A heavy steel door, with only a small porthole to look through. The hallway was empty, so Leo assumed all the nuns had gone through the door.

Reyna was the first to move, stepping quickly down the hall. She peeked her head through the porthole. Leo watched as her face drained of colour.

"You'd better come see this," she whispered.

Leo followed in apprehension. He was pretty sure anything that scared Reyna was something he didn't want to see.

He looked through the porthole. It was small, but still enough to see what was on the other side. What it was made Leo want to puke, or quite possibly turn tail and run away to Siberia.

It was huge, like an army hangar. There was a small balcony in front of him, where all of the mormo had congregated around a table. Beyond the balcony sprawled what could only be the army – at least one hundred teenage girls, some no older than twelve, standing perfectly still in military formation.

"Holy Hephaestus," he breathed.

Reyna pushed him aside so she could look through again. She squinted in the direction of the mormo. Then her eyes widened. "That's it!" she hissed. "There, on the table. The source of magic!"

Leo pushed her, cupping his eyes. "What? That jar? How do you know?"

Reyna growled. "Leo Valdez, I swear to you, if we make it out alive I will tell you all about my knowledge of magic. So _shut up _about it."

"Touchy," Leo mumbled. At Reyna's indignant look, he changed track. "So, what's the plan?"

Reyna pushed him again. Leo's shoulder was starting to hurt. Her eyes moved quickly over the mormo. "There's eleven of them. Think we can take them in a full-frontal attack?"

"With an army of fangirls?"

"They haven't been awoken yet," Reyna said. "All we need to do is destroy the mormo before they get a chance to try."

"Right. And I'm guessing my fire-powers are out again?"

"Excellent deduction, Sherlock," Reyna muttered in a very sarcastic tone. She unhooked the frying pan from her scabbard.

Leo made a face. "What's the point of having cool powers if you can't even use them?"

Reyna gave him a look. He sighed, and began rummaging around in his tool belt. No hammers today, but he did get a nice hack saw of Celestial bronze. Reyna raised her eyebrows.

Leo smirked. "Yeah, I know you're impressed."

"Once again, shut up," Reyna rolled her eyes. Then she tensed, and raised the pan. "On three?"

Leo nodded. Reyna counted on her fingers. _One, two. _

_Three_.

She led the charge. Leo was glad for that. She kicked the door open, and ran in at full speed. Leo followed quickly, but he almost wasn't needed. One hit from solid steel wasn't enough to destroy a mormo, but it was certainly enough to knock them down. Reyna left a patch of destruction in her wake. Leo followed and sliced through every fallen monster with his saw, disintegrating them all. Eleven hadn't been anything to worry about. Reyna was through with them before most had a time to react.

As the last one toppled, Leo stared at her in disbelief. She held her shoulders back, chest heaving. Sweat glistened on her forehead. Lara Croft and Wonder Woman didn't even begin to make the cut, Leo thought wildly. This girl was _perfect_.

"Whoah," was what he managed.

Reyna looked back, and smiled widely for the first time since he'd met her. Really smiled, teeth and all. "Nice job," she told him.

"Yeah." Leo held out his arms. "One question. Will you marry me?"

Reyna laughed. Then she leaned on the table, studying the jar. "I recognize this," she said. "And I know how to stop it. You just-"

"Scratch out the symbol?" A new voice purred. Leo spun around and his eyes widened in fear and horror. Reyna stumbled back several steps.

"That's her," she said. "That's the one Lamia answers to!"

Leo swallowed. His head was buzzing in fear, confusion, and anger. "Reyna," he swallowed, "that's..."

The owner of the voice stepped into the room. She raised her hand, and fixed her beautiful, cold eyes on Leo. "You again," she said, hate dripping from every syllable. Leo moved to attack, but he was too slow. She raised her hand like a whip, flinging her arm up. The last thing Leo saw was a barrage of ice and snow flying in his direction.

Then he felt nothing but cold.

~.~

Reyna stared in horror. Bile rose up in throat. It had happened too fast. She hadn't been fast enough, and now Leo Valdez was encased in a block of ice.

"Leo!" She screamed, scrambling toward him. His eyes were unseeing. Reyna placed her hand on the ice, right above his face. "Leo," she whispered again, voice cracking. In a surge of panic, she raised her frying pan and made to crack the ice.

"I wouldn't do that," said the girl who froze him. "He'll just shatter into a thousand pieces, and then where will you be?"

Reyna whipped around, braid flying. "Who are you?" She snarled. "What have you done?"

"I've killed him, essentially," she replied. Lush, dark hair tumbled down her bare shoulders. Brown eyes with snowflake-frosted lashes blinked back at her. "Not right away. With that unnatural body heat of his," her lip curled on the word unnatural, "he'll probably last longer than most humans. But eventually he'll freeze. Much crueler than shattering." She laughed. "And my name is Khione. Pleasure to meet you, Reyna of New Rome."

Every nerve in Reyna's body was telling her to scream, to run at Khione and beat her until there was nothing left but ichor and pulp. But her instincts spoke differently. She had to be calm and logical, because if she wanted any chance of seeing Leo alive again, she had to be practical.

Her eyes quickly surveyed the stance of the woman. She was young, maybe Reyna's age. She wore a strapless, long white gown, and had a strong set in her shoulders. Prideful, Reyna thought. The kind of people she dealt with in the Senate every day.

"Khione?" She tested, keeping very still. "I've never heard of you."

_Bingo_. Khione's pretty face twisted into something ugly. "Goddess of Snow?" She demanded of Reyna. "Daughter of Boreas?" Reyna kept her a blank slate. Khione let out a huff of frustration. "I nearly conquered the world last year, you know, had it not been for that boy-" she pointed to Leo's frozen form "-and his meddling friends. Once I'm done with you two, Jason Grace and Piper Mclean are my next targets."

Reyna had a sudden flashback to last year, when the Argo II had landed in New Rome and Jason had regaled them all with the tale of how they stopped the giant Porphyrion, and in the process Leo had melted Khione.

"Yes." Khione was still talking. "They stopped my plans then. I was banished from my father's kingdom! Forced to live the life of an exile, a wandering nomad! And this was only after I spent _excruciating_ months rebuilding myself."

Khione began walking slowly forwards. Reyna didn't move; she'd gotten the goddess monologuing, and wasn't about to stop her now. "But eventually, my exile came to close. I met Lamia. Like me, she had been foiled time and time again by the demigods. She had been concocting a plan – with the help of other monsters, she was building that mansion in Colorado and turning it into a food pantry. You've been there, haven't you, dear?"

Khione had reached them. She ran a finger over the iced Leo. Reyna's fingers twitched, fighting the urge to rip Khione's hand off. "But she wasn't getting too many customers. Not enough orphans in the world to sate her appetite, you know. So I offered her a deal. See, in my travels, I encountered something of a magic black market. And I discovered something wonderful. Something you, my dear, already have figured out."

White fingers wrapped around the jar on the table. Khione lifted it, smiling softly. "Lovely, isn't it?" She asked Reyna. "A relic of Circe's Island; but of course, you already knew that."

Reyna forced herself not to answer.

"I told Lamia that with this magic, I could command hundreds of children to find her mansion. I only made her promise that half the children would belong to me. We wrote the book, placed the magic on the pages, and waited." Khione laughed. "It was nearly perfect. It all went according to plan, until you two showed up."

Khione placed the jar back down on the table. "I should have known he would foil me again. He, with those blasted fire powers." She glanced at Reyna teasingly. "Sweet boy though, isn't he? You like him, I can tell. I suppose he does have a certain charm about him. All that undivided attention; makes you feel special. Wanted." Khione turned to face the ice block. Her eyes wandered over Leo's frozen face. "I do know how that feels."

She tilted her head to the side. "He used to like me, you know. I wanted him to join me." Her eyes flickered back to Reyna, and a mocking smile tugged at her lips. "Too bad. I suppose he'll be just as sweet as a decoration in my palace." Then she turned and pressed her lips to the ice, directly above Leo's.

Reyna snapped.

She launched forward with a cry, swinging the frying pan. Khione had been expecting her, however, and caught her blow easily. Frost erupted over the frying pan's handle, burning Reyna's hand. She nearly dropped it, but held on and continued to swing. Khione parried each blow, laughing as she did.

One last hit to the frying pan made it impossible for Reyna to hold on anymore. She let go – only to find that she couldn't. Her hand had frozen to the handle, the way tongues stuck to poles in the winter if you licked them.

"You mortals are so easy to bait!" Khione crowed as Reyna struggled in pain. "You and your _feelings_. Did you really like Leo Valdez? Did he make you forget all about Jason Grace?"

Reyna screamed. She ripped the pan from her hand. Chunks of skin went with it. She threw herself at Khione, tackling her to the ground. "How do you know that?" She roared, pinning Khione's shoulders.

"I know everything about you, Reyna of New Rome!" Khione snarled. She flipped them over, so she was straddling Reyna. Cold seeped through her body, and small pinpricks of ice began forming at her fingers. "Don't you think I did my research on who was coming after me?"

Reyna kicked her in the stomach, making her go flying off. "What kind of research is that?"

"The kind that works to my advantage!" Khione raised a hand, and a flurry of snow came hurling at Reyna. She ducked and rolled, barely dodging it. "You may be a fighter, not a talker; but words hold more power than any sword!"

Reyna made to attack again, but Khione snaked her hand forward. Her fingers wrapped around Reyna's throat.

Reyna gasped, hands flying to her neck. She tried prying Khione's fingers off, but they wouldn't budge. Frost danced across her skin, up towards her chin and down along her collarbone. Khione squeezed tighter, and Reyna's eyes started rolling back.

Khione leaned forward, brushing her lips along Reyna's ear. "Words can make you do things," she whispered. "Words influence." She kissed the inside of Reyna's ear. Reyna shivered. "Stop fighting me, Reyna."

A lull settled over Reyna's mind. Part of her screamed, _keep_ _fighting!_ But something else told her, _no, don't fight. It's over. She's won_. Slowly, Reyna dropped her hands. Khione smirked, and loosened her grip on Reyna's neck.

"That's it," she cooed. Her lips still danced over the shell of Reyna's ear. "Don't fight me anymore."

Reyna relaxed completely. Khione released her grip, and Reyna stumbled back several steps. She could feel bruises forming, and raised a hand to poke. Her skin was freezing to the touch, and her fingers were turning blue.

_Frostbite_, Reyna thought mildly. She wasn't angry, though. She didn't feel much of anything.

Khione wrapped her arm around Reyna's shoulders. "This is why I love talking," she said softly. "If you say things in just the right way, you can make people do whatever you want."

"You should meet Octavian," Reyna said, sounding odd and far away, even to herself. "You two would make a fantastic pair."

Khione laughed. "Matchmaker, are you?" She teased.

Reyna's eyes found Leo, trapped in his block of ice. She stepped away from Khione, ignoring the way her skin had started to burn where it had been touched. In three steps, she stood in front of the ice. Leo's face stared back at her.

"Is he dead yet?" She asked.

"Probably."

Reyna raised a hand, blue fingers dancing along the lines of Leo's cheeks. "I'm sorry," she told him. "I really did like you."

The admission shocked her, even in her emotionless state. And yet she realized that she _did_ really like Leo Valdez, probably had since the moment he burst into that dungeon. He was, like Khione had said, sweet. The more time they spent together, the less she thought about Jason, or the pirates, or anything that made her upset. She felt irrationally angry when she thought of him liking someone else. With his unending stream of silly compliments, he made her feel like someone special.

She wondered, suddenly, if Hylla's hit hadn't been directed at Leo, but at her. Hylla had been hinting at Reyna having feelings for him. Her own sister had seen something she'd been completely blind to.

Reyna had convinced herself that having feelings for Leo Valdez was impossible, because she was supposed to hate him. He was the Greek that blew up their camp. And even if she forgave him for that, he still wasn't Jason. He wasn't Roman. He wasn't responsible, or any of the things Reyna thought she'd like in a boy. She'd subconsciously ignored every sign, and convinced herself that she didn't feel anything.

And now it was too late to ever tell him, because he was most likely dead.

Reyna's fingers slipped, and her hand dropped to her side. She felt a hand wrap around her wrist, and felt tugging along her arm.

"Come now," Khione said. "I want you to come with me."

Reyna turned. She looked down at her arm, at the vice-like grip Khione had on her wrist. Her whole hand was blue now, and small ice crystals were gathering on the hairs of her arm.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"To my throne room," Khione replied. She began walking toward the door, and Reyna followed. "I'm going to show you something wonderful."

Placidly, Reyna followed, leaving Leo the ice block behind.

* * *

**annnnnd my flair for the dramatic makes it's appearance, dun dun DUN**

**Next chapter is last chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5

**He-hey. How long's it been? A week? Haha...ah...I Was Sick So Nothing Was Accomplished: A Novel**

**I didn't edit this one because I just finished it, like, now. And I can't say expect any more fanfiction too soon, because after this I'm boycotting the Internet for eight days. I've already seen spoilers and just :T  
On the bright side, House of Hades in eight days :D**

**As a final note, just oh-my-holy-gods-on-Olympus you guys! You're fantastic!I have so many wonderful readers, you make me perfectly, utterly, incandescently happy! Everyone who reviewed, fave'd, even just followed, those of you that don't have accounts but still read and dropped guest reviews, even the people that didn't do anything but just _read_ - I love you all. You're the reason I write. If I didn't give a PM back to anyone this time, it's because I was sick (ehe) but rest assured I still rolled around like a fangirl bcause of you. I think I fell of my bed once. And dropped my laptop. And made people on the bus stare at me. I hope this last chapter doesn't disappoint, I hope you continue to read my stories in the future, and I hope all of you continue to spread the Leyna love!**

* * *

_Backup V_

* * *

Things were a lot different when you were under the influence of a mad goddess, Reyna mused as she followed Khione along the many hallways in the warehouse. For example, if Reyna had been her normal self she would have already started a mental map of the hallways, trying to deduce the best escape route possible. But under the influence, she merely observed the decorations. Maybe this was what it felt like to be stoned, Reyna thought idly. She resolved to start stricter regulations involving cannabis in New Rome, because of anyone tried to go on the battlefield like this, they'd be slaughtered.

Reyna giggled at the thought of going onto the battlefield in her given state. Khione, upon hearing the noise, turned around with her eyebrows raised. "Something funny?"

Shaking her head, Reyna suppressed her laughter. "Nothing at all."

Khione gave her an appraising look, but turned back.

Reyna slipped a little. Khione caught her arms, steadying her. Reyna blinked; just a second ago, Khione had been in front of her. How did she move so fast?

Reyna looked down at her feet, wondering why she slipped. A layer of ice had grown over her shoes.

"Dear me," Khione tutted. "Here, let me help." She circled her arms around Reyna's waist, guiding her slowly. Reyna sighed. Khione was so close, she could feel the waves of cold emanating off her. Leo would be jealous, she thought giddily.

Then she stopped. Thinking about Leo made her feel funny. Why was that again? Reyna couldn't remember.

"Oh yes," she said aloud. "He's dead."

Khione looked at her. "What was that, dear?"

"Leo's dead, isn't he?" Reyna asked blankly.

"Yes," Khione agreed. A triumphant smile pulled at her lips. "He's dead."

Reyna sighed. A feeling of heavy sadness was starting to overcome her. Khione leaned in closer, whispering in her ear. "Forget about him. We're almost here."

Reyna blinked, and all thought of Leo vanished from her mind. "Where?"

"My throne room." They reached a pair of double doors, with frost edging along the cracks. Khione waved her hand, and the doors creaked open, revealing a room made entirely of white cinderblock. It was quite large by room standards, and was decorated with only two things. A white iron garden chair sat at the back of the room, and in a far corner a white railing edged a spiral staircase. Frost covered everything, making it glitter.

"Do you like it?" Khione asked.

"Very minimalist," Reyna said lightly. "That doesn't look like much of a throne, however."

For a second, Khione's face went dark. The room dropped several degrees. "I meant, compliment it," Khione growled in Reyna's ear.

Growling didn't have quite the same effect as whispering, but it was still effect enough. "Lovely enough," Reyna said, feeling a little dizzy. "What's down the staircase?"

"Allow me to show you," Khione led Reyna to the edge of the staircase. They both peered down. Reyna squinted her eyes.

It was a gigantic room full of books. Stacked from wall to wall, inch for inch; glossy soft cover books. Reyna tried to focus her eyes on one of the covers. She recognized the vampire book Hylla had shown her.

"Every existing copy of '_Kiss of a Fallen_,'" Khione said. "Isn't it beautiful? Perfectly placed for someone to destroy them all and stop me." She turned to Reyna. "Except you won't, will you?"

Reyna shook her head. "No," she agreed placidly. "I won't."

Khione let her go and spun away, laughing. Reyna tried to follow, but her fingers had frozen to the metal rail. "I love this!" Khione cried as she spun. Snowflakes danced up around the hem of her dress.

Reyna finally pulled her fingers off the rail. "What do you love?" She asked, because it felt like Khione wanted her to.

"This!" Khione stopped spinning, pointing at Reyna. "You could destroy my entire empire! But you won't! Because I told you to!"

"Why does that make you happy?" Reyna asked. Khione sighed, walking back over to Reyna. She pulled her away from the railing, and led her towards the garden chair.

"My entire life," she began to explain, "I have never been in a position of true power. I watch others as they reign. My father; the Olympians. Doesn't it only make sense, then, that I would relish seeing others powerless?"

Reyna felt something. An odd, bubbling sensation in her gut. She placed a hand on her stomach.

"That's why I love my ice statues," Khione sighed, sitting down in her chair. Her gown fluttered as she sat. "I completely take the power away from them."

Without thinking, Reyna sank to her knees. She had begun to shake violently. She raised her hands. Where her fingers had been blue before, now they were nearly black.

"I lost all my precious statues," Khione continued on mournfully. "They're in my father's palace, which I have been banned from. But," she leaned forward on her elbows, reaching out one hand to tilt Reyna's chin. She forced their eyes to meet. "I'd like to start a new collection."

Reyna shivered. All of a sudden, she could feel the cold washing through her, in a way she hadn't before. "What's happening?"

Khione acted like she hadn't heard. "I think the one Leo Valdez cares for will be the perfect starter piece."

"You've been freezing me this whole time." It wasn't a question. Reyna's lips could barely move, could barely form the question.

"And the only thing that's been keeping you from going under is my influence," Khione agreed. "But now that's starting to wear off. Welcome back, Reyna of New Rome. It's been fun." She leaned forward, whispering in Reyna's ear one last thing. "I think I'll like you better as a statue."

Reyna's vision began to darken around the edges. She gasped, lungs burning and freezing at the same time. She felt cold, nothing but cold, and pain, and-

"_Reyna!"_

Only the sound of that voice could have given Reyna the strength to look up. She heard Khione's infuriated scream, and the chair crashing to the ice as she stood up. But Reyna only paid attention to the brightly burning figure silhouetted in the doorway. She just barely managed to smile.

"Leo," she whispered, voice whistling.

Then she crashed to the ground like Khione's throne.

~.~

Leo had gotten out of the ice shortly after Khione and Reyna had left. He'd been melting it the whole time. He only wished Reyna hadn't panicked, and kept a cool head. If she'd bought more time, there wouldn't have been a problem.

Leo burst through the remaining layers with a small explosion of flames. His mind was somewhere between worry and anger; worry about Reyna and anger at Khione for taking her. He almost stormed out the door after them, when something else caught his eye – the jar on the table.

Reyna would murder him if he went after her without taking care of this first, Leo knew. He picked up the jar, trying to remember what Reyna had said. Scratching the symbol out nullified the magic? Something like that. Shrugging, Leo dug around in his tool belt, and pulled out a large, half-round file.

"That'll do, belt," he told it in a deep, mocking voice. Even if he was half joking, he knew the belt probably wouldn't give him anything else. It was just him and his fire now, and he couldn't do that with innocent girls in the building.

Picking up the jar, Leo began filing at the symbol. If someone in ancient Greece had tried to scratch this out with their fingernails, it probably would have taken a lot more effort. People in ancient Greece didn't have modern day tools, Leo thought gleefully as the symbol came off in less than ten scratches. This file was for shaving off metal, it was certainly doing a good job on clay.

The second the last line was erased, a dull buzz filled the cavern. Leo looked over the balcony to see the girls standing about, talking in low voices with their hands on their heads. "Hey!" Leo called, trying to get their attention. Nobody looked at him.

His eyebrow twitched in pure annoyance. He was so freaking tired of people not paying attention to him. So he lit both his arms on fire and started waving then. "_HEY!_ Over here!"

That worked, Leo thought triumphantly as several hundred faces looked his way. A few pointed up to him and one shouted, "You aren't Damien Harkness!"

"Where are we?" Another shrieked, and soon a bubble of panic began welling up in the crowd.

Leo shot a fireball up into the air. They quieted. "No," he said, "I'm not Damien Whatever. And you've all been tricked by that book. You're in a warehouse in Utah, and I can help you get out!"

"Why should we trust you?" One of the older girls standing at the front crossed her arms. She looked a little smarter than the rest, with bright eyes that reminded him of Annabeth's.

"Because I'm a demigod," Leo said. Honestly, at this point, nothing normal would make sense.

The girl in front narrowed her eyes. She started at him for way too long, because Leo was getting restless and he had to go after Khione, not stand around waiting for these girls to come to their senses. But finally she nodded. "Lead the way."

Huffing a quiet "_Finally,_" Leo turned and began walking toward the door. He kept one arm raised, gently burning, and heard the shuffle of footsteps behind him.

Luckily, Leo remembered the way out. And even more luckily, they didn't run into anything on their mass exodus.

Unluckily, anyone near Leo promptly began asking him how his hand was on fire and why he couldn't feel it. It was causing him irritation to no end. Now, normally Leo wouldn't be so annoyed at two dozen girls talking to him. Except that, well, these ones were screechy. And after talking to no one but Reyna for almost two whole days, it was kind of grating.

And on that note, he kept thinking about Reyna. He wasn't worried about her, exactly. It was hard to actually worry about someone like Reyna. She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. It was more Khione he was worried about. She had a bad habit of getting people to do things just because she told them to. Also, how was she still alive? She should've been burning in Tartarus, Leo thought sullenly.

They reached the side door. Leo stopped, and turned to the bright-eyed girl, who had been walking beside him the entire time. "All right, you're in charge. Get everyone as far away from here if you can."

"Aren't you coming?" She asked. Leo shook his head. "Well, why can't we just wait for you to come out?"

"Because this building might be exploding in the next ten minutes." Because I might 'accidently' set it on fire.

She studied his face again. She had a seriously unsettling look about her, Leo thought. Maybe, when this was all done, he'd get Jason to call his sister and suggest another Huntress.

Looking out at the crowd of sheep-like girls, Leo wondered in a little Huntress training wouldn't be good for all of them.

"All right," the girl called finally. She didn't take her eyes off Leo's face. "Follow me, everyone."

Leo watched as all the previously hypnotized girls filed off. Well, that was one thing he could scratch off their to-do list. As for everything else, there was a pretty simple solution.

As soon as the last girl left and the door closed, Leo turned and placed a burning hand on the wall.

He kept his hand on the wall as he walked forward, leaving a streak of melting metal in his wake. It wouldn't be too long before the wires caught and something blew up, he thought with grim satisfaction. When he was done with this place, there wouldn't be anything left standing.

As he stormed forward, he noticed something on the ground. Quickly, he extinguished the fire. Frost was glittering on the ground. It was already starting to melt, but he could still make out sets of footprints.

_Two_ sets of footprints.

Blood rushed to Leo's head. If there were two sets of frozen footprints, it could only mean one thing. Khione was the only person capable of leaving a trail like that. Anyone else would have to be freezing. Khione was _freezing_ Reyna.

Leo broke out into a run, nearly melting the frost as he came near it. He tried to keep his temperature in check, but as the footprints disappeared behind a door covered in a sheet in ice, he gave up and nearly combusted.

He tried to kick the door, but it wouldn't budge. So he placed both hands on it, pushing all his strength into just burning it down.

It exploded suddenly. There must have been wiring in the door as well, Leo thought blankly as a wall of flames swept across him. The door didn't even come off its hinges, merely hung to the side. But the entire hallway behind him was now completely on fire.

Then his eyes settled on the room in front of him, and his stomach dropped twenty metres.

Reyna was on her knees. She looked terrible; her skin was bluish-purple and mottled. Her braid had nearly frozen over, stiff with ice crystals. Her Roman armour was coated in ice, and her eyes were unfocused and hazy.

And Khione was leaning over her, one hand on her throat, the skin there nearly blackened. She was seconds away from freezing her completely.

"_Reyna!_"

Khione turned to him, a shriek tearing from her throat with audible strain. She flew at Leo, but he was faster. He slammed into her, both of them tumbling into the wall.

The sound of something crashing made him turned, and he saw Reyna fall to the floor, eyes closed. In that second of distraction, Khione flung him across the room. He collided with a railing, nearly falling off. Quickly he glanced down, then did a double take.

All he saw was books. One look at Khione's suddenly enraged face told him this was her entire stash. With a wicked grin, Leo sent a volley of fire down. In seconds the smell of burning paper and smoke overtook the room.

The room shook slightly, accompanied by a low but audible rumble. This was followed by an even louder rumble, and the room shaking so hard Leo stumbled. Khione looked around wildly.

"What have you done?" She screeched at him.

"Oh, nothing," Leo said savagely. "Just, you know, _blown up your warehouse_."

As Khione ran for the door, Leo knelt beside Reyna. She was still unconscious, and barely breathing. He swallowed. "Gods, I'm sorry," he muttered, clenching his fist. Leo had always believed his worst fear was watching someone burn alive. Now, he thought watching them freeze to death wasn't much better.

He placed his hand over Reyna's collarbone, where the ice was worst. It should have also been the place he felt her heart beating, but he didn't feel anything at all.

Leo closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. "Gods _damn_ it."

Then he felt something fluttering under his hand. With a start, he opened his eyes, and nearly screamed at what he saw.

His hand, although not on fire, was _glowing_, like a million embers were under his skin. And the skin on Reyna's throat was rapidly gaining colour, reddening, almost blistering with the heat.

Leo snapped his hand back. Reyna was breathing. She was breathing again. Leo let out a whoop of victory, throwing his fist in the air.

A cold hand grabbed his wrist, tossing him backwards. He went flying, smashing into the back wall. Khione appeared in front of him, surrounded by a storm of snow, her nails digging into his shoulders.

"I will shatter you into a million pieces!" Khione howled, and Leo thought his ears were going to start bleeding from the sheer volume. "I will destroy you, Leo Valdez, and I-"

"Get outta my way!" Leo yelled in her face. He grabbed her arms, and let out all the anger he felt, and the desperation to get back to Reyna.

He exploded into flames, with a heat so intense Khione started melting. She tried to move away, but Leo grabbed her arms and didn't let go. It was like a snowstorm trying to fight a raging fire; futile. Khione melted into a puddle, but Leo wasn't done. He didn't stop until she began to evaporate, until every trace of the snow goddess was gone for good.

Leo sighed, for a second relieved. Khione was done. She wouldn't be back for a long, long time.

Then he realized that the building was burning down.

Another explosion rattled the room, and Leo stumbled. He ran over to Reyna, shaking her. "Hey," he said. "Come on, we gotta go." When she didn't move, he slung her arm over his shoulders and pulled her up.

Upon leaving the throne room, Leo realized it was a lot worse than he originally thought. Half the structure of the building had come down. The very air around them was burning, and if it hadn't been for Leo's immunity and Reyna's frozen state, both of them would have perished.

Leo pushed through the debris. He wasn't going in any specific direction or following any path, he just wanted to get out of the warehouse. Every time he thought they were getting close to a way out, something would fall or blow up, and they'd be forced to go a different way. And he was dragging Reyna, something his spindly muscles weren't really used to doing.

Finally he stopped. He shifted Reyna onto his back, grabbing her legs and praying she didn't choose now to wake up. The he started running.

Scipio had landed, and was waiting for them on the edges of the burning building. He skittered nervously, but stilled as Leo approached. With his legs about to give out, Leo heaved Reyna over Scipio's back, then clambered on himself. "Get us outta here," he told the pegasus, breathing heavily. Scipio whickered, and shot upwards.

Leo yelped, leaning forward and grabbing onto Scipio's neck. Reyna slid a little, and Leo shifted around to try and keep her unconscious body from falling off. In the distance, he saw a herd of people marching through the desert, and Leo felt a small surge of relief at the girls making it far away from the warehouse. When the fire hit the boiler room, no distance would be too far.

Then, Leo's stomach sank to the bottom of his feet. _The boiler room_.

Behind him, the warehouse let off one last explosion; one with so much force that Scipio tumbled in the sky and Leo blacked out instantly.

~.~

When Reyna awoke, her very first thought was that the sun shining on her face had never been such a lovely feeling, and she was never taking warmth for granted again.

This prompted Reyna to wonder why she was appreciating the warmth so much. Had she been cold before? And what was she doing outside? Her hands curled in the sand. Sand? So she was on a beach. That was nice. A beach trip sounded like the exact kind of thing she needed after her encounter with Khione-

Reyna shot up so fast, the blood rushed to her head and her vision blacked. Dizzily, she shook her head. "Leo!"

"Reyna!' She still couldn't see, but certainly felt the warm mass of a human body as it tackled her to the ground in the tightest hug of her entire life. "Holy Hephaestus, you scared me! I thought you weren't gonna wake up, and then I thought maybe-"

"Valdez!" Reyna choked. "Off! Get – off!" She smacked him several times in the shoulder. Finally he let go, and she could breathe again, not to mention see.

Then she saw Leo. His eyes were wide, worry and relief fighting for the dominant emotion on his face, and the biggest, brightest grin she had ever seen in her life graced his lips.

Reyna felt even warmer than before, like she was filled with hot chocolate all the way down to her toes. She relaxed, leaning back on her hands. "How are you still _alive?_"

Leo laughed, visibly relaxing was well. He crossed his legs in the sand, leaning his chin on his palm. "You really think a bunch of snow is enough to stop me?"

Reyna bit her lip. "I suppose I did panic a bit."

"You think?"

"Where are we?" Reyna asked, looking around. She saw Scipio, curled up with his head under his wing. "Did he bring us here?"

"Two heavy, blacked out demigods? Yeah." Leo followed her gaze. "That's one cool pegasus."

"Indeed he is," Reyna said softly. Then she glanced back at Leo. "You should meet my dogs."

"Oh?"

"They're automatons."

Leo perked up. "Add that to my list of things that make you perfect," he said, with a goofy smile.

Reyna flushed. She remembered everything that Khione had said, and everything she'd come to realize when she thought Leo was gone. She had been dying to say them then, and now that she had the chance, it didn't seem like she'd ever have the courage.

So she did the next best thing. She turned, scooting beside him so their knees brushed. Leo looked surprised, but for once, didn't say anything. Reyna didn't either, and for a few minutes they sat in silence, listening to the lap of the waves on the shore.

"The Great Salt Lake," Leo said at length.

"What?"

"That's where we are." Leo gestured to the sand underneath him. "That's lime."

Reyna realized that it was, indeed. She picked up a handful, letting it fall between her fingers. Then she remembered. "This is the place-"

"They aren't here," Leo interrupted. He didn't look at her, but hunched over a little. "Must've gone back when the doors closed."

Reyna looked around. Around a year ago, Jason had been here. That used to be the kind of thing that would set her on guard, or make her sad, or get lost in thoughts of how it might have gone if she'd been there as well.

This time, Reyna realized she didn't care.

She leaned into Leo, giving him a gentle nudge. It was enough for him to nearly fall over. That made her laugh, and laugh felt good. Leo pretended to pout, but soon he was laughing, too. And then they both started laughing so hard they woke Scipio up.

Leo fell back onto the lime, and Reyna followed. "How did you do it?" She asked, genuinely curious. "Save the day, I mean."

"I dunno." Leo looked a little sheepish. "I just sort of...burned the place down."

"But what about me? I think I was about to be frozen solid."

"I may have...sort of...burned that, too."

Reyna glanced down. Parts of her skin were still cherry red, and her collar had a few blisters. She was lucky she was wearing armour, too, because most of her clothes were singed. "Valdez!"

"I was either that or you become a Praetorsicle!" He laughed as Reyna picked at the charred fabric.

"Well, I guess I'm grateful for that," Reyna grudgingly admitted. "You got all the books, too?' She remembered something else. "The army! Did you-"

"_Hakuna Matata_, lady." Leo rolled his eyes, raising his hands in defense. "I got them out, too."

"How?"

"By remembering what you said about the magic jar." He rolled onto his stomach. "Which reminds me, you still owe me an explanation. How do you know so much about magic? Is that just knowledge that comes with being cool, or are you secretly a witch, or-"

Reyna smacked a hand over his mouth to make him shut up. "I'll tell you. Okay?" Reyna glanced around. "But maybe not here."

"Where?"

She pulled herself to her feet. "Let's go to the city," she said. "I'm hungry. And I need some caffeine. Especially if I'm going to tell you my life story."

Leo smiled. Then he tried to get up, and groaned, and fell back down. "Ugh, I can't get up."

"Come on."

"I'm such an old man, _urgh._"Leo rolled a few times, like a turtle. "You know, you're pretty heavy. Carrying you out of a burning building wasn't easy."

"That's probably because of the armour."

"Oh." Leo looked sheepish. Reyna pinched the bridge of her nose.

Then she held a hand down to help him up.

~.~

The sun was starting to sink by the time they got into Salt Lake City again. Leo was fresh out of change, but Reyna, in her miraculously wonderful ways, still managed to have a few coins in that armour somewhere. She bought them both a cup of coffee, and they wandered the streets of the city.

Reyna told him everything. Or, at least, what he assumed to be everything. About Circe's island, her days there, and her travels to Camp Jupiter after that. It seemed like parts of it were really hard to say, but when she was done, she looked ten pounds lighter.

"That's crazy. And that jar was definitely from the island?"

Reyna nodded. "I'd stake my life on it. Khione mentioned something about a magic black market." She worried her lip against her teeth. "I find that troubling. Circe had some powers I wouldn't want released on the world."

Leo was about to answer, but someone knocked into him. He stumbled, and small voice said "Sorry." A girl about his height walked past, arm-in-arm with a taller guy. Leo grumbled to himself. Couples. They never looked where they were going.

Something about the guy's voice seemed familiar, and Leo squinted. He had sunglasses on, and Leo couldn't really see his face; and he could barely make out the girl, her hair was the same colour as the guy's jacket...

Leo blinked.

The guy pointed into one of the shop windows. The girl giggled, clutching his arm tighter, and he looked down to poke her in the cheek. They were too far away to hear what they said, but he started making model faces in the window and the girl threw her head back and laughed.

"She got him," Leo mumbled. The tall guy, still making faces, was interrupted by the girl tugging on his scarf, and pulling him down for a kiss.

Reyna looked up from her musings. "Sorry?" She followed his gaze, and made a face. "Hm. I can't stand PDA."

Leo was still rather speechless. He kept staring at the two. The guy started walking away, and the girl turned back. For a second, Leo's eyes met the brightest pair of blue eyes he had ever met, and a small smile graced her face before she laced her arm back through her boyfriend's and turned the corner.

"My gods," Leo said, taking a sip of coffee. "She did it."

Reyna was still giving him an odd look. "Did you know them?"

Leo chose not to answer that.

The sun was setting, casting the city in an orange glow. Reyna looked up to where Scipio had begun circling overhead. "We should probably get back to camp."

Leo shook his head. "Yeah," he agreed. "Our separate camps."

Reyna nodded. "But I mean," she said quickly "We'll see each other around."

"Oh, yeah." Finished with his coffee, Leo tossed it into the nearest trash bin. "We'll run into each other on missions again."

They stood awkwardly. Leo started tapping his foot. Reyna opened her mouth to say something about five times, before finally blurting, "I'm going to check out that lead about the magic black market."

Leo raised his eyebrows. "Oh?"

She had started playing with her braid, bringing it over her shoulder and picking at it. "I wouldn't mind backup," she said quietly.

In that moment, Leo realized two things. One; that if Echo had the courage to try and make a narcissistic, self-centered jerk fall in love with her, then Leo could definitely win the heart of the girl who tried to kill him on seven different occasions.

Two; that he was going to kiss her right now, even if he got slapped.

He threw his arms around her. She kissed him back almost immediately, her half full coffee cup falling to the ground and spilling all over the sidewalk. Her arms snaked around his back, pulling him even closer.

The streetlamps all flickered on. Reyna broke away, but she didn't move her arms. She looked around in slight wonder. "Did you fix them to do that?"

"No," Leo said, "but I could. I could fix the streetlamps to go on, and all the fountains to start up, and all the stores could start playing that song from Dirty Dancing at the same time-"

"Shut up, Valdez," Reyna said, and kissed him again.

They walked down the street, heading to an open area where Scipio could land. "Dirty Dancing was my mother's favourite movie, you know."

"Really, now?"

"Mhm. She had a crush on Patrick Swayze."

"Of course she did. Even I had a crush on Patrick Swayze."

The first few stars started twinkling above them.

* * *

**I shouldn't be telling you this but I just got an idea for a sequel so**

_**eight days**_


End file.
